Out here in Truro, Iowa (south of Des Moines near the famous bridges of Madison County) and seeing one heck of a light show. I'll recommend Iowa for anyone wanting to go "bird" watching. A lot of polar orbiting birds, and a couple of "close encounters" within moments of one another tonight. At 10:26 central time (GMT-5 I believe), to my south, (my coords, 41.2100°N, 93.8460°W) I witnessed a polar orbiting satellite traveling south, when another satellite traveling northeast passed real close by within my field of view. Both birds were mag 4-6 range, viewed only thru binoculars (some light pollution at the home I'm staying) and about 45 degrees altitude, again, almost due south. Then just 3 minutes later (10:29 Central) to my east, about 50 degrees altitude a polar orbiting bird traveling south, and one traveling north came close together. I wish I'd been better prepared, because I've seen several low magnitude polar-orbiting birds, and one flare from iridium 30 at 10:34 Central. If anyone could assist IDing the close encounter birds, that'd be great, but I know the info I have is crude at best (when is it not?). Also saw a tumbler during this but was unable to get a time, other than it was traveling south in polar orbit and was after the two close encounters occurred. One good thing about this area is according to H-A and Calsky, there's a lot of activity all night long. Must be that high latitude. :-) Of course, I'm still trying to get used to 10PM sunset/4:30AM sunrises, myself. Too bad I go back home Friday. Greg Williams 41.2100°N, 93.8460°W (Truro, Iowa) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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