Shuttle+Hubble Thursday evening Texas
Ed Cannon (ecannon@mail.utexas.edu)
Fri, 24 Dec 1999 03:17:00 -0600
There was quite a bit of high variable partly-to-mostly cloudiness
Thursday, but fortunately it cleared up enough for the time of the
Shuttle+Hubble pass over Texas about 0:54-55 Dec 24 UTC. I was at
friends' house west of town, a better site than either UT Austin
campus or my apartment. TRMM pass higher than 80 degrees preceded
Shuttle+Hubble 70-degree pass by just a couple of minutes. TRMM
-- in quite a hurry of course -- grew quite bright after its
culmination, possibly +0, and proved to be brighter than
Shuttle+Hubble, which did not get to +1 until it/they was/were well
past culmination.
My not-too-well informed speculations on faintness of Shuttle+Hubble:
1. Greater, possibly by 50%, distance between observer and Shuttle
than usual mission
2. Configuration such that for some passes HST shades Shuttle and/or
Shuttle tail shades HST
3. HST solar panels not deployed (folded or rolled up)
4. Some passes with Shuttle's black (still black?) nose towards
observer, or the tail, with engine nozzles -- not very good
reflectors
Earlier saw two Iridium flares between clouds in twilight.
Location: approx. 30.31N, 97.73W, 150m
Sure am glad we survived that monster full Moon!
Best wishes to all for clear and dark nights, happy holidays and
glitch-free Y2K!
Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexas.edu - Austin, Texas, USA
http://wwwvms.utexas.edu/~ecannon/satellite.htm
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