Flash observations of July

Bart De Pontieu (bdp@lists.satellite.eu.org)
Thu, 3 Sep 1998 12:15:04 -0700 (PDT)

Hi all,

My first observations since March 1995, so I don't know about accuracy and
all... The stopwatch used was an antique (non-electronic) model too.

Many thanks to Sue for providing predictions. Observations were made at
the Teide, Tenerife, Spain.

76- 19 A 98-07-29 22:06      BDP  71.0 1.0  16  4.43  rapid flashes at end
94- 74 B 98-07-29 22:12      BDP                      S, mag +4.5 -> +5
97- 17 B 98-07-29 22:15      BDP  78.1 1.0  10  7.81  mag +4
91- 28 B 98-07-29 22:22      BDP                      S, mag +4.5
73- 69 J 98-07-29 22:28      BDP 289.9 20    1 290    
95- 21 A 98-07-29 22:37      BDP  29.9 1.0   8  3.7   flashing?, sa
98- 17 A 98-07-29 22:37      BDP                      S
91- 76 C 98-07-29 22:54      BDP                      S, mag +3

ERS 2 (95- 21 A) and SPOT 4 (98- 17 A) appeared in one field of view, SPOT
4 was trailing ERS 2 by about 15 seconds along the same path. [I guess 
this is an indication of why it was possible to observe ERS 1 at
close range using SPOT 4's cameras, see Allen Thomson message of yesterday
-- they're approximately in the same orbital plane]. ERS 2 flashes were
very small amplitude, I probably saw non-typical flashes.

Cheers,
     Bart

PS: How much of the currently used prediction software will suffer from
the year 2000 problem? 
 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Bart De Pontieu   --   bdp@lmsal.com   --   http://www.lmsal.com/TRACE 
Solar Physicist at Lockheed Martin Solar & Astrophysics Lab, Palo Alto
bart@satellite.eu.org -- www2.satellite.eu.org/satintro.html
!!!!!   Join us at Eurosom 3, Edinburgh, UK, 24/25 October 1998  !!!!!
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