On Mon, 7 Jan 2008, Art Glick wrote: > Then again, in the case of the brighter pass, the observer is "in > between" the sun and the object (so to speak) and in the case of the > dimmer pass, the object is in between the observer and the sun. Is that > it? That is exactly it. The Sun-satellite-observer angle can make a big difference. The sunlight reflected off the satellite behaves just like the light reflected from the Moon. When the Moon (satellite) is between you and the Sun you only see a thin crescent and hence it's not as bright; when you're in between the Sun and Moon the Moon (satellite) is nearly full and hence bright. The best satellite passes are those that are in the sky opposite the Sun. Robert Fenske, Jr. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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