Spectacular USA 86 blue flare

From: Daniel Deak (dan.deak@sympatico.ca)
Date: Mon Mar 06 2000 - 18:53:08 PST

  • Next message: Sue Worden: "Re: Spectacular USA 86 blue flare"

    Hello everyone,
    
    At last !!! Clear sky, no moon and mild (-2 C) temperatures.
    I observed 4 classified objects. In IOD format :
    
    21798 91 084A   1746 E 20000306235600900 57 25 0547833+073200 68 S+050 07
    23233 94 057A   1746 E 20000307000254600 57 25 1014833+260500 68 S+055 07
    22251 92 083A   1746 E 20000307001104400 57 25 0703467+203900 68 S+030 07
    13172 82 041C   1746 E 20000306234217900 57 25 0543633-182500 68 F+035 07 000500
    
    I already saw USA 86 flare to mag -2 a couple of times in the past with a reddish
    colour. So I watched it naked eye after my positional fix and I was treated with a
    spectacular sight. In about 5 seconds, its brightness rose to at least -6 or -7 at
    00:11:26 UT (Mar. 7) and the colour was light blue, something I've never seen
    with Iridium flares ! The maximum lasted for a couple of seconds.
    It was the most spectacular flare I've ever seen.
    
    I remember reports of blue ISS flares in Feb. 1999 and I'm wondering if
    anyone has seen blue flares from USA 86 ?
    
    Cheers,
    
    Dan
    
    --
    Daniel Deak
    Drummondville, Québec
    
    COSPAR site 1746 : 45.8537°N, 72.4857°W, 90 m., UTC-5:00
    
    E-mail : dan.deak@obsat.com        ICQ : 52770063
    Site en francais sur les satellites:
    French-language satellite web site : http://www.obsat.com
    
    
    -----------------------------------------------------------------
    Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe'
    in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org
    http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Mar 06 2000 - 18:53:58 PST