After a few years of relative inactivity I've picked up satellite observing again. I just watched the same HTV pass and I can confirm the flaring activity. From rise to eclipse it showed three flares, estimated at magnitudes -4, -2 and -3 from an otherwise steady estimated brightness of mag 0 (comparable to Arcturus, also in color). The flares were brief, only one or two seconds (shorter than iridium flares), and the last flare was right before it disappeared in the shadow. It was interesting to see how the eccentric orbit of HTV meant it entered the shadow much earlier than ISS, which followed a similar track along the sky 15 minutes earlier. Regards, Cees Bassa Culemborg, The Netherlands (51.947N, 5.220E, 0m) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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