Most operational geostationary satellites are stabilized so that they show a faily constant brightness of +12 to +15 - out of reach for your instruments (and mine!) - except near equinoxes, close to shadow entry and exit. OTOH, non-operational geosynch satellites often tumble, so they can reach magnitude +1 to +8 in flashes! Depending on the orientation of the rotation axis, the reflecting surfaces and the Sun, the time and duration of the flashing period can vary considerably. I like to determine the orientations and make predictions, but to do that I need observations from more than one latitude, or over a large part of the year, of time and/or location of exceptional flashes. Lacking that, you will have to follow SeeSat-L reports, and make your own guesses of when and where those will be visible. -- bjorn.gimle@tietotech.se (office) -- -- b_gimle@algonet.se (home) http://www.algonet.se/~b_gimle -- -- COSPAR 5919, MALMA, 59.2576 N, 18.6172 E, 23 m -- -- COSPAR 5918, HAMMARBY, 59.2985 N, 18.1045 E, 44 m -- ´ ... > Can the geosynchronous satellites be seen? I have 15 X 65 bino and a 4 inch > reflector. Can I see the geosynch sats? ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Aug 03 2001 - 09:47:05 PDT