My first superIridiumFlare
Edward S Light (light@argos.argoscomp.com)
Mon, 20 Oct 1997 10:28:47 -0400 (EDT)
After a miserably cloudy weekend, we were looking forward to seeing some of the
fabled really bright Iridium flares, and Rob Matson's "iridflar" predicted one
for about 6:34 AM EDT (10:34 UTC) this morning. Unfortunately, at that time,
I would be on my way to work (approximately 75 km away) and so would miss it.
Just in case, however, as I was walking to my office in New York City (at
approximate coordinates 40.754 N, 073.990 W), I looked North and at 06:34:28
+/- 5s EDT (10:34:28 UTC) 60 or more degrees above the Northern horizon I saw
an UNBELIEVELY BRILLIANT flare (or whatever) which lasted for a few seconds.
I can't run iridflar on my work computer (a unix system), but I probably saw
Iridium 11 or 13.
How can one estimate such a bright object's magnitude? The only other sky
objects visible to me at the time were the moon and Sirius and if pressed, I'd
have to say this "flare" rivaled the moon.
Absolutely spectacular!!!
Clear and dark skies!
Ed Light
Lakewood, NJ, USA
N 40.1072, W 074.2317, Hgt +21 m (69 ft)