Re: HTV-1 bright and flaring

From: Cees Bassa (cgbsat@googlemail.com)
Date: Sat Sep 12 2009 - 19:53:40 UTC

  • Next message: Alberto Rango: "4542 SATOBS 11 SEP 2009."

    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
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Sep 12 2009 - 19:54:38 UTC