> I would like to know if it is possible to see Geo-sats > using binoculars [...]. > > Richard Bassan > Caracas, Venezuela The answer is a "qualified yes", because it's possible to see them with binoculars *sometimes*, but there are a *LOT* of qualifications! For almost all operational ones almost all of the year, you really need a telescope. However, for a week or so twice a year (near the equinoxes) you may be able to see some of them "flaring" to surprisingly bright magnitudes. Web sites with information on these are below. There are a fair number of non-operational ones that are tumbling, and some of them can flash as bright as +2 sometimes. They're frequently called "flashing geosynchs" or "flashing geosats". For more details, I recommend the following Web pages: http://www2.satellite.eu.org/geosats.html http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/1668/geo.htm http://www.eclipsetours.com/sat/gso.html Now, I would like to mention that there are some other types of objects you might consider. One type is the many low-inclination objects in LEO or highly eccentric orbits (e.g., GTO), payloads and launch vehicles. Especially some of the rocket bodies, when they're near perigee, would go over you very low and bright and moving very rapidly. Another type is objects in molniya-type orbits. At your latitude their range is much less unfavorable than when they are over much more northerly areas. A few of these are very interesting classified objects, and there are also flashing Molniyas that can be seen in binoculars (or sometimes even one-power) from Texas; they would be much closer and thus brighter from your location. There are a few other objects such as ETS 6 (Kiku 6), COMETS, Raduga 33, Milstar 3 Centaur, etc., that are in odd orbits due to launch failures that will sometimes go very spectacularly over your location. Though some of the information is getting somewhat dated, there is still a lot of good information about Molniyas, Centaurs, and other high-altitude objects on this site: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/1668/high-alt.htm Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexas.edu - Austin, Texas, USA ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 : Thu Mar 01 2001 - 21:48:25 PST