Re: Double Iridium flare? and Bright trail is a satellite flare?

From: Francisco Ocaña (albireo3000@yahoo.es)
Date: Tue Jul 14 2009 - 10:33:19 UTC

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    Thank you Arnold! So it was Terra... and it was a really bright flare, 
    if the Iridium 61 was -2, Terra was at least -4 or -5!! ( I suppose that 
    if both Terra and Ir61 are ~700km high , they have the same speed and 
    then they spend the same time in each pixel aproximately).   Does Terra 
    flare regularly?
    
    Thank you Kevin and Rod too! Nice pictures! I did see a double flare... 
    from a Noss pair (predicted by Simone), really nice.
    
    My limiting magnitude 3 (sometimes 3,5) skies allow me just to see 
    planets and bright sats. Thank you to everybody! I am newbie seeing 
    satellites and you really encourage me.
    
    Waiting for a double-double flare... Best,
    
    Paco Ocaña
    
    
    Arnold Barmettler escribió:
    > Hi Francisco,
    >
    > Iridium 36 has failed about 2.5 years ago and may flash, but flares cannot
    > be predicted since then (http://www.io.com/~mmccants/tles/iridium.html). For
    > tumbling (flashing) Iridiums, see:
    > http://www.calsky.com/?tumblers=& 
    >
    > The second observation was Terra:
    > http://www.calsky.com/csrender.cgi?object=Satellite&number=11&sat=25994&skym
    > ap=&lon=-3.7032&lat=40.4167&date=13.7.2009&time=0:25&interval=10m
    >
    > Best regards
    > Arnold
    >   
    >> -----Original Message-----
    >> From: Francisco Ocaña [mailto:albireo3000@yahoo.es]
    >> Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 11:14 AM
    >> To: SeeSat-L
    >> Subject: Double Iridium flare? and Bright trail is a satellite flare?
    >>
    >> Hi list,
    >>
    >> a friend of mine was taking photographs looking for meteors/fireballs
    >> and recorded 2 satellites. It was the night of the 12-13th July, from
    >> Madrid, Spain.
    >>
    >> The first event took place at 21:53 UT the 12th July (23:53 LT) a
    >> "normal" Iridium flare. My surprise was checking at Heavens-Above that
    >> the flare consists of 2 satellites (Iridium 61 and 36) around less than
    >> a degree apart.
    >> http://www.heavens-
    >> above.com/iridium.asp?Dur=2&Date=40006.3714101273&lat=40.39995&lng=-
    >> 3.70237&loc=Paco%40Home&alt=580&tz=CET
    >>
    >>
    >> Could it be or is the prediction mistaken? I didn´t know that 2 Iridiums
    >> could be so close. Image:
    >> http://picasaweb.google.es/lh/photo/1zC3eCa5Sqp8ui0yn_oJHg?feat=directlink
    >> Not sure if it a double or a single trail.
    >>
    >> The second event was totally unexpected. At 22:30 UT the12 th July
    >> (00:30 LT ) a bright flare was photographed. The image is quite
    >> different from other planes, helicopters photographed, and it is quite
    >> similar to a satellite flare. It lasted around a minute and a half, so 3
    >> exposures (of 30 secs) show its trail. I have checked for Iridiums, ISS
    >> and other bright sats without success, does anyone know which sat o what
    >> it could be? I have uploaded images at:
    >>
    >> http://picasaweb.google.es/lh/photo/EMfR1Cocc3bNPF_GSC_KRA?feat=directlink
    >> Aproximately it began between Corona and Böotes and ended between kappa
    >> (27) and lambda (10) Ophiuchii.
    >>
    >>
    >> There is a crop were you can see it crosses close to Corona Borealis
    >> (upper right):
    >> http://picasaweb.google.es/lh/photo/WfWqv_2E5_TTKk9IRfOa-w?feat=directlink
    >> You can see also Hercules (upper middle) and Lyra (upper left).
    >>
    >>
    >>
    >> Thanks,
    >>
    >> Paco Ocala
    >>
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    >
    >
    >   
    
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