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A personal Iridium milestone
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 |
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