Re: iridium 14 tumbler?

Mir16609@aol.com
Tue, 20 Oct 1998 21:14:38 EDT

In a message dated 10/20/98 6:32:39 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
b_gimle@algonet.se writes:
>  I looked between clouds to confirm this, and found it 98-10-20 above
>  Cassiopeia at about 70 deg.E. The first timed flash was at 18:10:34.1 UT.
>  Most were different negative magnitudes for about 50 seconds, then +2/+4.
>  Flash no. 12 at 18:11:28.26 +- 0.2 seconds, giving 4.91 +- 0.04 sec period
>  was at about 42 deg. NNE.

I think that I can safely forget about the predicted -5 mag flare predicted
for Iridium 14 tomorrow evening.   

I observed Iridium 14 for about 2.5 minutes beginning at 20:44:00 EDT
(00:44:00 UTC 21 October)  Perhaps another stuck thruster problem?    The
flashes that I observed were many in number but seemed to be irregular in
frequency and with a magnitude ranging from +4.0 to +1.0.  The brightest
flashes were spaced roughly 25 seconds apart.  It seemed similar to the
flashing like Iridium 11, which passed earlier in the evening.  

There will be a series of visible passes at my location.  At least one good
one each night for the rest of the week.   If the clouds cooperate, I should
be able to get some better observations.

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