ISS Peculiarity

From: Sue Worden (worden@fc.net)
Date: Tue Aug 21 2001 - 19:48:19 PDT

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    The following is a report from my father of seeing the near-zenith passes
    of Discovery and ISS last night from 32.59 deg North by 96.96 deg West:
    
       > Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2001 10:44:30 -0500
       > From: Ithiel Worden <c0026306@mail.airmail.net>
       > [ ... ]
       > Dear Sue;I watched the satellite show last nite,since it was a clear
       > nite.I went up into the field up front.There isn't much interference
       > by lights or obstacles up there ,so i get a good view. I picked up
       > the view at not too many degrees above the horizon ,and was able to
       > see for quite awhile as they continued toward the other horizon.i had
       > a good clear view.The second one was especially good. It looked like
       > a triangle of white lights with a red light  in the center of what
       > looked like the wing section,and it passed nearly directly overhead.
    
    My dad has 20-10 uncorrected vision, and he and I have watched many bright
    satellites together from his home, so I feel certain that "the second one"
    he saw was indeed ISS and that it looked exactly as he reports.
    
    My dad's "triangle of white lights" sounds like what Randy John saw in his
    telescope (http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/Aug-2001/0382.html):
    
       "I saw (OK, I recollect) three long rectangles.  A big bright one in the
       middle flanked by two shorter and slightly dimmer ones on each side."
    
    But what could my dad's "red light in the center" have been?  Anyone know?
    Anyone care to speculate?
    
    --Sue Worden (worden@fc.net)
    
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