Steve, here is a brief report of my first attempt to see "flaring" GEOs two years ago: [Start report] "Rainer Kresken mentioned being the possibility of seeing GEOSATs just prior to shadow entry at certain times of the year. I just came in from seeing about six (6) with binoculars under the conditions he mentioned. I am at latitude 38.9478 N and observed from 0200-0324 UT on 6 Oct 98. I need to determine which satellites I saw along with a possible geosynch flasher. Details to follow. Looked at Superbird starting at 0326 UT and it was already in the post phase shift mode." [End report] A few weeks later I made this report on a good satellite for me to watch: [Begin report] "I received a private email questioning the magnitude of Intelsat 7F6 (or 706?), #23571, when I observed it last night. My response was about 11th magnitude and that was just a guess. I realized the obs report left a lot to be desired so tonight I again observed it. At 01:42 UT on 21 Oct 99 I judged the magnitude to be in the 10.5 - 11 range. I then determined where it would be when opposite the Sun's RA and observed it again between 02:47 and 02:53 UT. RA 1h 37 min (J2000). Magnitude as it passed a star of magnitude 7.3 was essentially equal to that star. Thus it flared about three (3) magnitudes. There was no shadow entry/exit since it was south of the earth's shadow. I like this satellite since I have found it every time I tried and its location low in the east sky means that I do not have to stay up past my bedtime to observe it opposite the Sun. Intlst 7F6 1 23571U 95023A 99283.26039606 -.00000302 00000-0 10000-3 0 4333 2 23571 0.0304 272.9010 0001592 288.1610 218.1285 1.00270000 16094 Ron Lee 104.5614 W, 38.9478 N, 2073 m" [End report] There is a big difference between flaring GEOs like described above and GEO flashers like Superbird A that you can see whenever they are visible. If you would like, I can send you Skymap JPG that shows where to look. I would plot a few satellites so that you know the star pattern where satellites enter Earth's shadow. GEOs will start to flare just a bit west (to the right) of that point and are visible as slowly moving "stars" compared to the background stars. Just email me with your lat/long and I (or several other folks) can get you going. If another interest is GEO flashers, just stay tuned for info on Superbird A or any of the other flashers. Ron Lee ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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/sat/seesat/seesatindex.html
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