I observed Superbird A flashes from town in moonlight this morning at RA 08:31.0-08:37.6 (2000, decl.+3.27, 03:32:51-03:39:19 UTC) Tried to see flashes from the 82.6-degree surface predicted about 50 minutes before the wellknown series with phase shift, which occurred about 03:37. Both flashes were seen 03:35:37-03:38:57. Due to binocular mag limit in moonlight at about +6.6(!) the ramp-ups and cut-offs of bright flashes were very sudden? Only one of the secondary flashes observed after the first series terminated! I tried twice to see the flashes naked eye, but didn't succeed, though I estimated them at mag +3 compared to eps/zeta Hyd. The flashes became invisible a little more than a minute before the star 1.5 degree W of eta Hyd was to pass right behind Superbird A. Allowing for somewhat larger latence on the first timings, I get a period of 22.170 s +- 0.005. I do not have 'Synodic' on this computer yet, after my disk crash, but I made a similar computation in an Excel file, containing all timings and a chart (unexpectedly consistent timings). www.algonet.se/~b_gimle/eurosom/Synodic.xls At about 3:35:19 Cosmos 158 r 67045B #02802 passed eps Hyd after crossing the binocular field as an "UNID" going in DIR=320 deg approx. SkyMap prediction for this, and the observed portion of Superbird track in www.algonet.se/~b_gimle/eurosom/11180332.gif. Note that I have a day old prediction for the flash path, moving -0:04 in RA daily. /Björn ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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