Post-Collision
Rotating IRIDIUM 33 "Flares" Recorded - 26/03/2009
By
using my predictions, a wonderful series of bright flares has been
recorded by Derek Breit in USA on the night between the 25th and
26th of March 2009. The observer was very close to the bottom of
the "U"-shaped flare track,
therefore many bright flashes were
expected. The predicted times of the first and the last track crossing were
respectively 03.31.45 UTC and 03.32.15 UTC. The following
pictures
show the satellite and the rotating flare around the two predicted
times. The observer location is represented by the little red dot at
the
picture centre (click on the picture to zoom in).
Satellite
and rotating flare at the predicted time of the first flare
Satellite time and rotating flare
at the predicted time of the last flare
The
observed "flares" were in a very good agreement with the predictions,
with time deviations of about 10 seconds. Click on the following
picture to start the video (raise the brightness of the video until the
sky is almost grey. File size 9 MB).
Image that shows one of the
captured flashes. The star at the top of the picture is Aldebaran (mag.
0.87).
Many thanks to Derek who
recorded the flashes. A full resolution video is available on his web
site (here).
