Iridiums 2 - Clouds 2

Mir16609 (Mir16609@aol.com)
Thu, 30 Apr 1998 23:27:59 EDT

Hello All,

This evening there were 7 predicted flares at my location: 2 daylight (Iridium
45@-8,32@-4) and 5 after twilight (6@-4, 50@-3, 52@-1, 11@0 and 54@+1).
Clouds prevented observation of all but the last four.   All of the last 4
occured from 22:51-23:01 EDT (02:51-03:01 UT, May 1st) in the NE from 10-14
deg above the horizon between Deneb and Vega.   Due to the clouds Vega was
*barely* visible, Deneb was not visible until the I-54 pass.  Iridium 50 was
visible through the clouds for about 5-7 seconds - easily a -3 mag.  For some
reason I could not locate 52 or 11 through the clouds.  Iridium 54 was visible
for about 4-5 seconds although not at 1x.

There are 6 negative magnitude flares predicted for my location in the next 4
days.  This, of course, coinsides with a large, slow moving weather system
entering this area.  :-(

Cheers
Don Gardner
Homepage: http://members.aol.com/mir16609/
76.8419 W, 39.1796 N,  34m ASL