Re: old reliable "glint", rogue "flare"
JAY RESPLER (JRespler@surfnj.net)
Sun, 08 Mar 1998 22:32:17 -0500
Walter Nissen wrote:
>
> For a long time, satellite observers have distinguished between the
> generic term "flash", which, by the statistical imperative of experience,
> has often been associated with repeated brightenings of tumbling rockets;
> and the more specific term "glint" denoting a (usually single) flash,
> typically associated with the changing solar-satellite-observer angle as a
> satellite moves across the observer's sky.
I would say 'glint' is the more generic term: Specular reflection of
sunlight.
Flash and flare are both glints. A good example is sun glinting off a car
on the road ahead of you. It can be quick or continuous.
Flash is a quick, sharp rise and fall in brightness.
Flare is a slower, more gradual rise and fall in brightness.
> "glint" would seem perfectly suited to describe the phenomena observed
> from Iridia.
Yes, it is a glint. 'Flare' describes more accurately.
> (A) Can anyone identify any way in which "flare" can be distinguished
> from "glint"?
>
> (B) Or in which "flare" augments what "glint" communicates?
See above.
> Relative brightness would be a troublesome aspect.
That shouldn't make any difference.
> Would
> we need still another term to describe even brighter glints from huge
> booms to be launched in the future?
No.
Would a further term emerge to
> describe faint glints from LEOs and a fifth term for even fainter glints
> from GEOs?
No.
> I'm trying to keep an open mind about this, but I can't see any logical
> argument supporting use of "flare".
I hope my examples were logical enough to clarify the issue.
-----------------------------
Only a few days left to vote on a new Satellite Observing Newsgroup. Is
there
anyone who has not yet voted? Please do so now.
To vote, please obtain an official ballot (called a 'CFV') from one of
these newsgroups:
news.announce.newgroups, news.groups, sci.astro, sci.astro.amateur,
sci.astro.planetarium, sci.space.policy or sci.space.shuttle
or, you can request a ballot by e-mail from
David Bostwick <bostwick@cas.chemistry.gatech.edu> and ask for the
sci.astro.satellites.visual-observe ballot.
-----------------------------
I just started a web page with sky info. You're welcome to check it at:
Sky Views: http://merlin.njsurfnet.net/~jrespler/
--
Jay Respler
--
JRespler@surfnj.net
Sky Views: http://merlin.njsurfnet.net/~jrespler/
Satellite Tracker * Early Typewriter Collector
Freehold, New Jersey