The prediction I gave a few days ago about the upcoming solar eclipse events in geostationary orbit remain almost unchanged. Here are the updated numbers. For the annular GEO eclipse close to 104.8 East I get (times are in UTC on 17-FEB-07): ASIASAT 3S (1999-013A , #25657) at 105.5 E from 16:29 to 16:59, annularity from 16:43:15 to 16:44:36. ASIASTAR (2000-016A , #26107) at 104.9 E from 16:31 to 17:00, annularity from 16:45:04 to 16:46:28. KAZSAT 1 (2006-022A, #29230) at 103.0 E from 16:37 to 17:07, annularity from 16:51:21 to 16:51:58. In each of the three cases there should be a total drop in apparent brightness by about 2 mag. The final four minutes before (and after) annularity see a change in 1 mag which should be quite obvious. For the event close to 145.4 West I get (times in UTC at 18-FEB-07): ECHOSTAR 1 (1995-073A , #23754) at 147.9 W and ECHOSTAR 2 (1996-055A, #24313) at 147.8 W, will experience a partial solar eclipse from 1:03 to 2:25. Maximum eclipse (0.88) will occur at 1:40 with a total drop by 2 mag. During the last 13 minutes before maximum eclipse until 13 minutes after the change in magnitude should amount to 1 mag. Actually the magnitude change might be somewhat less as the two sats "see" a two-third sunlit Earth with corresponding reflections. Clear skies for everyone who wants to observe it! Gerhard HOLTKAMP Darmstadt, Germany ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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