Iridium "double flares"

From: Ed Cannon (ecannon@mail.utexas.edu)
Date: Mon Jan 17 2000 - 14:49:30 PST

  • Next message: Justin Ray: "JAWSAT Rescheduled?"

    In the last week or so I've observed some Iridium "double
    flares", most notably last night from Iridium 26 (24903,
    97043A).  For my location is was predicted about -6 at
    00:58:54 January 17 UTC.  I clicked my stopwatch at 
    almost exactly that time, and it was just about that 
    bright.  However, I kept watching it, and just about 61
    seconds later it brightened again to about -3.  
    
    This was a northbound pass in the NE in the evening.  It 
    seems to me that this is one of the types of passes most 
    likely to produce "double flares", and these are the ones
    I've seen in the last week or so.
    
    A little less than three minutes after Iridium 26, I had a 
    prediction for a +0 flare from Ir 20A ? (25578, 98074B) at 
    about 1:01:45 January 17 UTC.  This one was "substandard", 
    possibly only +2 at best (if that) and did not reach its 
    brightest magnitude until about 1:02:02.
    
    Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexas.edu - Austin, Texas, USA
    
    -----------------------------------------------------------------
    Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe'
    in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org
    http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Jan 17 2000 - 14:50:14 PST