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  #1  
Old June 20th 10, 10:59 PM posted to sci.astro.satellites.visual-observe
Daniel Minge
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Posts: 16
Default Iridium

I've started looking out for Iridium flares.

I've noticed two things. They don't always flare at the apponted time.
Also their flares appear to be restricted to a certain part of the
sky. Namely in the south east at my location which is Adelaide,
South Australia.

Minge
  #2  
Old June 28th 10, 06:40 AM posted to sci.astro.satellites.visual-observe
Giuseppe N. Gerbore
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Posts: 3
Default Iridium


"Daniel Minge" ha scritto nel messaggio
...
I've started looking out for Iridium flares.

I've noticed two things. They don't always flare at the apponted time.
Also their flares appear to be restricted to a certain part of the
sky. Namely in the south east at my location which is Adelaide,
South Australia.

Minge


True.

I always double-check heavens-above.com and callsky.com.
Heavens-above seems to be using more restricting conditions, such as sun
altitude (at least -10 degrees). I estimate a 20% misses.
I noticed that in winter the most frequent flares are SE and NW in summer
(Italy). This might be due to sunset/sunrise time variation.

Giuseppe


  #3  
Old June 28th 10, 09:13 AM posted to sci.astro.satellites.visual-observe
Daniel Minge
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 16
Default Iridium

On Mon, 28 Jun 2010 07:40:53 +0200, "Giuseppe N. Gerbore"
wrote:


"Daniel Minge" ha scritto nel messaggio
.. .
I've started looking out for Iridium flares.

I've noticed two things. They don't always flare at the apponted time.
Also their flares appear to be restricted to a certain part of the
sky. Namely in the south east at my location which is Adelaide,
South Australia.

Minge


True.

I always double-check heavens-above.com and callsky.com.
Heavens-above seems to be using more restricting conditions, such as sun
altitude (at least -10 degrees). I estimate a 20% misses.
I noticed that in winter the most frequent flares are SE and NW in summer
(Italy). This might be due to sunset/sunrise time variation.

Giuseppe


I use Orbitron which has a good flares predictor application.

I also see flares which are in the Northern sky.

Merv
  #4  
Old June 28th 10, 03:39 PM posted to sci.astro.satellites.visual-observe
Giuseppe N. Gerbore
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3
Default Iridium


"Daniel Minge" ha scritto nel messaggio
news
On Mon, 28 Jun 2010 07:40:53 +0200, "Giuseppe N. Gerbore"
wrote:


"Daniel Minge" ha scritto nel messaggio
. ..
I've started looking out for Iridium flares.

I've noticed two things. They don't always flare at the apponted time.
Also their flares appear to be restricted to a certain part of the
sky. Namely in the south east at my location which is Adelaide,
South Australia.

Minge


True.

I always double-check heavens-above.com and callsky.com.
Heavens-above seems to be using more restricting conditions, such as sun
altitude (at least -10 degrees). I estimate a 20% misses.
I noticed that in winter the most frequent flares are SE and NW in summer
(Italy). This might be due to sunset/sunrise time variation.

Giuseppe


I use Orbitron which has a good flares predictor application.

I also see flares which are in the Northern sky.

Merv


Hi Daniel

Did you try heavensat? (http://www.heavensat.ru/english/). I find it to be
the best among free satellite tracking programs. Displays stars and has
lots of other goodies. Try it.
I also use Orbitron, mainly for downloading new TLEs.
For Iridium flares I prefer to rely on heavens-above and callsky, because
TLEs do not bring informations useful for flare calculation. At least I
believe so; am I wrong? -


  #5  
Old June 29th 10, 07:44 AM posted to sci.astro.satellites.visual-observe
Daniel Minge
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 16
Default Iridium

On Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:39:44 +0200, "Giuseppe N. Gerbore"
wrote:


"Daniel Minge" ha scritto nel messaggio
news
On Mon, 28 Jun 2010 07:40:53 +0200, "Giuseppe N. Gerbore"
wrote:


"Daniel Minge" ha scritto nel messaggio
...
I've started looking out for Iridium flares.

I've noticed two things. They don't always flare at the apponted time.
Also their flares appear to be restricted to a certain part of the
sky. Namely in the south east at my location which is Adelaide,
South Australia.

Minge

True.

I always double-check heavens-above.com and callsky.com.
Heavens-above seems to be using more restricting conditions, such as sun
altitude (at least -10 degrees). I estimate a 20% misses.
I noticed that in winter the most frequent flares are SE and NW in summer
(Italy). This might be due to sunset/sunrise time variation.

Giuseppe


I use Orbitron which has a good flares predictor application.

I also see flares which are in the Northern sky.

Merv


Hi Daniel

Did you try heavensat? (http://www.heavensat.ru/english/). I find it to be
the best among free satellite tracking programs. Displays stars and has
lots of other goodies. Try it.
I also use Orbitron, mainly for downloading new TLEs.
For Iridium flares I prefer to rely on heavens-above and callsky, because
TLEs do not bring informations useful for flare calculation. At least I
believe so; am I wrong? -


I've downloaded and installed heavensat, but it doesn't have a help
file. I need to be able to install the satellite elements and most
importantly, how to exit the program. :-)

I see no mention of callsky in Google, Is it a satellite tracking
program ?

Minge

  #6  
Old June 29th 10, 09:15 AM posted to sci.astro.satellites.visual-observe
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 2
Default Iridium

Daniel Minge wrote:

I've downloaded and installed heavensat, but it doesn't have a help
file. I need to be able to install the satellite elements and most
importantly, how to exit the program. :-)


You can exit Heavensat by clicking on "Common" in its
toolbar, then clicking "Quit." Or you can just click on
the X in the screen's upper-right corner.

I put the satellite elements in .txt files, and place them
in Heavensat's TLE folder. Then click on "Satellites"
in the toolbar, then click on "Satellite bases" and
checkmark the file(s) you want to use. (Alternatively,
when you're in the main screen you can hit
Ctrl-b to get the list of TLE bases.)

--Bill Thompson
  #7  
Old June 29th 10, 02:02 PM posted to sci.astro.satellites.visual-observe
Giuseppe N. Gerbore
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3
Default Iridium


" ha scritto nel messaggio
...
Daniel Minge wrote:

I've downloaded and installed heavensat, but it doesn't have a help
file. I need to be able to install the satellite elements and most
importantly, how to exit the program. :-)


You can exit Heavensat by clicking on "Common" in its
toolbar, then clicking "Quit." Or you can just click on
the X in the screen's upper-right corner.

I put the satellite elements in .txt files, and place them
in Heavensat's TLE folder. Then click on "Satellites"
in the toolbar, then click on "Satellite bases" and
checkmark the file(s) you want to use. (Alternatively,
when you're in the main screen you can hit
Ctrl-b to get the list of TLE bases.)

--Bill Thompson


Good morning (or rather good afternoon?)

Calsky. ( http://www.calsky.com) is a free site for all astronomers and
satellite observers.
Register, setup your location and navigate its menus. You'll be delighted.

Heavensat has a short help file available, but ... in Russian language!
Telescope driving is not active yet.

Giuseppe


  #8  
Old June 30th 10, 11:36 AM posted to sci.astro.satellites.visual-observe
Daniel Minge
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 16
Default Iridium

On Tue, 29 Jun 2010 01:15:34 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

Daniel Minge wrote:

I've downloaded and installed heavensat, but it doesn't have a help
file. I need to be able to install the satellite elements and most
importantly, how to exit the program. :-)


You can exit Heavensat by clicking on "Common" in its
toolbar, then clicking "Quit." Or you can just click on
the X in the screen's upper-right corner.

I put the satellite elements in .txt files, and place them
in Heavensat's TLE folder. Then click on "Satellites"
in the toolbar, then click on "Satellite bases" and
checkmark the file(s) you want to use. (Alternatively,
when you're in the main screen you can hit
Ctrl-b to get the list of TLE bases.)

--Bill Thompson


Thank you very much for that information. A great help !

Minge
  #9  
Old June 30th 10, 11:38 AM posted to sci.astro.satellites.visual-observe
Daniel Minge
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 16
Default Iridium

On Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:02:27 +0200, "Giuseppe N. Gerbore"
wrote:


" ha scritto nel messaggio
...
Daniel Minge wrote:

I've downloaded and installed heavensat, but it doesn't have a help
file. I need to be able to install the satellite elements and most
importantly, how to exit the program. :-)


You can exit Heavensat by clicking on "Common" in its
toolbar, then clicking "Quit." Or you can just click on
the X in the screen's upper-right corner.

I put the satellite elements in .txt files, and place them
in Heavensat's TLE folder. Then click on "Satellites"
in the toolbar, then click on "Satellite bases" and
checkmark the file(s) you want to use. (Alternatively,
when you're in the main screen you can hit
Ctrl-b to get the list of TLE bases.)

--Bill Thompson


Good morning (or rather good afternoon?)

Calsky. ( http://www.calsky.com) is a free site for all astronomers and
satellite observers.
Register, setup your location and navigate its menus. You'll be delighted.

Heavensat has a short help file available, but ... in Russian language!
Telescope driving is not active yet.

Giuseppe


Thanks for that information, Giuseppe.Calsky is a good sight.
I just wish the star maps in the Iridium section were a bit larger,
but that's a very minor problem.

Merv
 




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