Non-Obs + Obs 12 March
Mir16609@aol.com
Fri, 12 Mar 1999 22:01:56 EST
Perhaps some day there will be a Usenet Newsgroup:
sci.astro.satellites.non-visual-observe :-)
WIRE:
The good news is that I'm getting a nice high elevation pass at the same time
every evening. The bad news is that there is more ambient light at that time
with each passing day. I could not acquire WIRE when it passed over alpha-
Gemini (110az, 75el) at 23:53:35 UTC nor when it passed to the right of Sirius
(180az, 37el). I believe that if it were flashing I probably would have
acquired it.
Iridium 81:
I managed to briefly acquire this object on 2 passes: 23:59 UTC (100az, 25el)
and at 01:40 UTC (235az, 38el). It was near the limit of visibility on both
passes. I did not see any evidence of flashing. Tomorrow's pass should be
better for observation.
Obs:
ISS:
The ISS was a +2.0 as it passed over Polaris at 00:08:10 UTC. As it passed
over the Big Dipper (35az, 48el) it brightened to a 0 mag. It dimmed back to
a +2.0 as it passed under LEO (90az,30el).
There was a brief, low elevation 2nd pass this evening. The ISS was no
brighter than a +4.0 after it passed Saturn (275az, 07el) at 01:42:20 UTC.
Iridium 18 flared to a -2 to -3 magnitude at 01:35:44. The predicted
magnitude was -1. Because the flare was brighter than advertised and it
stayed visible at 1x for about 20 seconds after the peak, I suspect that there
was reflection from another surface of the satellite. Just a hunch.
Iridium 20 flash centers:
01:11:35 +/- 1.0 sec UTC (13 March)
01:14:29 +/- 1.0 sec UTC (13 March)
Final note:
Dr. Kelso communicated to me that he was having a temporary problem with his
ftp address. He expects the problem to be resolved shortly.
Cheers.
Don Gardner
Homepage: http://hometown.aol.com/mir16609
39.1796 N, 76.8419 W, 34m ASL