Last night (12/9) I had let the dogs out and was gazing North (checking for faint signs of aurora) when I observed a bright object (around mag 1, flaring briefly to -1) passing through Ursa Major and desceding into the North - I have checked Heavens Above - no bright satellites or flares where due in the area (it did resemble an iridium flare except that it didn't fade away) Time when 1st observed was 10:27:30UT, azimuth 320 degrees, altitude 20 degrees - object was moving quite fast, lost it in low cloud in the north around 1.5 minutes later when the azimuth was around 330 degrees and the altitude nearer 10 degrees. It was not a plane or a meteor, it basically looked like an iridium flare fading up to around -1, then fading to around magnitude 1 - but it did not disappear until I lost it in the Northern clouds. Any ideas? The speed of the object suggests it has a fairly low orbit - and I'm sure it just 'appeared' where I first saw it as if it had just emerged from shadow. Matt Fawcett 53.893N 0.273W ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses. www.mimesweeper.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 : Wed Sep 13 2000 - 04:38:35 PDT