This morning's sighting of a flare from Iridium 46 marked a milestone for
me - I've now seen flares from all the operational Iridium satellites
(defined pedantically as "in operational attitude when I would have
first seen a flare"), and flashes from the rest. With the luck of the
draw, 46 was the tough one - held me up for almost a year with bad weather
and bright twilight wiping out four previous attempts. It's taken a year
to pick up the last three.

I saw my first one on March 27, 1998 and was hooked. There have
been several especially memorable flare sightings - a double flare
over the NRAO 12m radio telescope, double flare seen simultaneously
with ISS over the NASA IRTF dome at Mauna Kea (see
http://www.astr.ua.edu/keel/issirtf2.jpg), and a mag -6 flare over
Kitt Peak telescopes (http://www.astr.ua.edu/keel/telescopes/).
It was appropriate to see one flare overhead as Buzz Aldrin was
extolling space commerce, Huntsville commemoration of Apollo 11's
30th anniversary celebration. I caught one from Germany while
it was overcast and raining. Have caught two in daylight (our skies
are usually on the murky side for this, and I've learned a lot about
the visual system by watching for them). Really impressed some friends -
I'd be at a soccer game with the kids and point up.

Well, it's a pretty cheap hobby. I'll only be annoying family
and collaborators by glancing at my watch and dashing outside
for really bright ones hereafter.

Bill Keel