Iridium double flares -- 4th night
Ed Cannon (ecannon@mail.utexas.edu)
Thu, 26 Nov 1998 01:47:48 -0500
Thursday 26 Nov. UTC (Wednesday evening local -- the fourth
consecutive night of observing this phenomenon, each night
from a different satellite). Very good conditions).
Location, 30.314N, 97.866W, 270m.
Iridium 15 (24869, 97-34A). Iridflar predicted +3 at 00:23:40
(solar elev. -10 deg.), and the satellite came through with
that one. Mike McCants and I kept watching it, and sure
enough it flared again -- get this -- to at least -4!! The
second one was one-power visible for at least 10 seconds, from
about 00:25:00 to about 00:25:10, and it maxed at about
00:25:05, a full 85 seconds after the first one. Interesting!
Mike and I also saw Mir -- from his car while sitting at a
stoplight, on the way to the observing site! It was a very
good pass, including a fairly close approach to Jupiter!
To the USA folks and others whom it may concern -- Happy
Thanksgiving! (Which reminds me, I won't get to look for the
fifth night's possible Iridium double-flare event -- not from
the same location anyway -- as I'm heading to San Antonio for
the holiday. We have morning Zarya predictions for the next
few days, so maybe my folks and I will get to see it from S.A.)
Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexas.edu -- Austin, Texas, USA