Hi, I just observed EGP in different night vision scopes and with different lenses. Here are the results: In a russian night vision scope (gen I) with 2,5x magnification is was easy to spot. I think not only the gain of about 200, but also the afterglow of a gen I tube makes the flashes better visible, because they just last a little bit longer on the small tube screen. In a gen II scope with 1:1 view it was _not_ easy to spot. The higher gain of about 2000 produces background noise in which the flashes can be overseen. With different lenses and a 3x magnification it was again easy to spot EGP. I think the problem is the multi-channel-plate, which produces a much better image, but also limits resolution. So the good news is that (some) cheap gen I night vision scopes can be used for satellite spotting. But don't expect miracles, their main advantage is the relatively low magnification and the resulting wide field of view (15 to 20 degrees typical). This makes it easy to find flashers, when their flashrate is low or their position is not known exactly (f.e. Starshine satellites or geosync flashers). bis dann, Frank 54.352N, 10.077E, Kiel ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jan 03 2002 - 14:59:09 EST