Re: scarcity of iridium flares
CmdrJaycee@aol.com
Thu, 19 Feb 1998 15:31:13 EST
In a message dated 2/19/98 3:08:17 PM, Tony Beresford <starman@camtech.net.au>
wrote:
>There is only 1 really bright Iridium flare predicted for
>my site ( Adelaide SA 34.97S, 138.63E) for rest of February.
>Is this a planetwide situation?
I can't speak for the entire planet (though my ego might like to think could
;), I can for my house, about 15 miles NW of Washington, DC. I've waited for
three months to get a flare above -5 mag and it looks like all of a sudden
they've arrived (there are two good -6 mag flares coming up for parts of the
DC area on Feb. 24, one each in the pre-dawn and evening skies that day). On
top of that, until this coming week, I found only one or two evening passes
per week - yet this coming week has five (though, aside from the -6 pass, the
others are much fainter). It seemed for the past 3 months 90 percent or more
of the flares visible here were morning passes. And even then, I found I
could go a few weeks without any bright flares at all.
Of course, after waiting all this time, now that these two -6 flares are on
tap for the 24th, I am sure it will rain that day.
- Jim Cook
CmdrJaycee@aol.com
Germantown, MD (39.2N, 77.28W)