New Subscriber
Jason Hatton (jason.hatton@spielmann.u-strasbg.fr)
Mon, 02 Feb 1998 13:48:24 +0000
>If you have just subscribed to SeeSat-L for the first time, we appreciate it
>if you send a short introduction about yourself and your interest in
>satellite observing
I observe satellites mainly for fun. My interest comes from both being
an amateur astronomer & my work. My work involves studying the effect of
gravity of immune cell function & we have had the opportunity to fly
several experiments on the Space Shuttle. My first serious attempt at
satellite watching was during the STS-65 /IML-2 mission at Cape
Canaveral. Towards the end of the mission we sent a message to the crew
of Columbia thanking them for their hardwork on our experiments, that we
would be watching them passing across pre-dawn sky & asked them if they
could take a moment to look back at us as they passed over the Cape. Not
only did they look out of the window at the appropriate time, but they
took some video footage of the Cape which they downlinked to us later in
the day (The lights of Cocoa Beach & the Cape showed up well on the
video, even if we couldn't see ourselves standing on the beach!)
I've primarily been observing Mir, Shuttle & other bright satellites
over the last year, but now I'm attempting to find fainter satellites
with telescope & binoculars (EGP etc). Saw my first Iridium flare
(Iridium 7, Mag -8) last week - very impressive. SeeSat-L seems very
useful, particularly for information which is not easy to find elsewhere
such as pre-launch elsets.
Best Wishes & clear skies,
Jason P Hatton
INSERM U311
ETS Strasbourg
67065 Strasbourg Cedex
France