Subject: Re: Are iridium flares less common in some areas? > Yes, but also the length of the latitude circle. Clarification: In the 9.3 minutes between two (operational) Iridiums, the Earth rotates 255 km at the equator, 130 km at my latitude, and 25 km at 84.5 degrees latitude. So, even if the tracks were N-S, they would have 10x higher chance of bright flares. Also the shorter twilight at the equator reduces the chance of night-time passes being sunlit. -- bjorn.gimle@tietotech.se (office) -- -- b_gimle@algonet.se (home) http://www.algonet.se/~b_gimle -- -- COSPAR 5919, MALMA, 59.2576 N, 18.6172 E, 23 m -- -- COSPAR 5918, HAMMARBY, 59.2985 N, 18.1045 E, 44 m -- > > ----- Original Message ----- > > > equator will see fewer flares because there will be fewer visible > > > passes per > > > unit area. For Iridium flares you would be best positioned very > > > near the > > > poles. If you worked at the South Pole Station you could see flares > > > 24 hours > > > a day for months at a time. > > > > Is this a function of the slope of the satellite's path over an observing > > site? > > > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > 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 : Mon May 20 2002 - 18:25:35 EDT