Some Iridium Next flares observations

From: Vladislav Gooba via Seesat-l <seesat-l_at_satobs.org>
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2018 18:32:58 +0300
Hi all,

I see that recently there was a discussion about the possibility to predict an Iridium Next flare.
We in CIS countries occasionally observe Iridium Next flares and have get a
reflection angles (which Heavensat application uses in its calculations and which are essentially
azimuth (counted counterclockwise if I recall correctly) and off-nadir angles) that you may be interested in.

Many of these observations were made by user named as granat on astronomy.ru forum (below his timezone is UTC+07:00)
and a single one by me (at UTC+03:00).

June 4th, 2017, 52.9206N 78.5828E UTC+07:00
Three new Iridiums flared up to 0th mag., flares duration was shorter than that of the older satellites.
Iridium 113 at 1:58:41, angles: 36.2 0.8
Iridium 120 at 1:59:25, angles: 37.0 0.1
Iridium 124 at 1:59:51, angles: 35.9 359.9

June 12th, 2017, 48.5266N 35.018E UTC+03:00
I tried to predict an Iridium Next flare using the angles from previous observation.
Luckily, Iridium 113 flared up according to angles: 37 0
The flare was of -0.5 mag., the peak was within 2 seconds from time predicted by Heavensat.
The exact time of the flare is missing, however, but can be retrieved from the date and TLEs at that time by predicting
the flare in Heavensat for that day.

April 1st, 2018, 52.9206N 78.5828E UTC+07:00
Iridium 135 flared up to -3 mag. Time was ~22:34:33, angles were 39.3 32.4

April 2nd, 2018, 52.9206N 78.5828E UTC+07:00
Iridium 113 flared up to -2 mag. in yellow. Time was ~22:28:02, angles were 36.5 32.2

April 3rd, 2018, 52.9206N 78.5828E UTC+07:00
Iridium 134 flared up to -2 mag. Time was 22:31:30, angles were 38.9 29.2

April 4th, 2018, 52.9206N 78.5828E UTC+07:00
Iridium 116 flared up to -2.5 mag. Time was 22:25:18, angles were 37.7 30.3

May 1st, 2018, 52.9206N 78.5828E UTC+07:00
Iridium 107 flared up to -2mag. in yellow. Time was 0:40:57, angles were 37.1 0.0

Good luck predicting the flares from these birds.
Vlad
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Received on Mon Jul 23 2018 - 10:33:52 UTC

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