Greetings, all... Just wanted to share a quick report on sighting Mir through my 8-inch Dobsonian last night. I was able to track it for most of its 71 degree elevation pass last evening between 0022 and 0025 from my front yard in Alexandria. I'd spent the previous 10 minutes in a fruitless attempt to spot Raduga 33 among the stars of Lepus, and decided to take a break and look for something I *knew* I could see. I was able to acquire Mir when it passed near Saturn, and followed it until I lost it in Earth's shadow. For the 30 seconds or so bracketing culmination, there was a definite structure visible at 46X, resembling the letter "H", with the middle bar much thicker than the serifs and oriented in the direction of travel. It was pretty cool to watch the stars whizzing by behind it. I really got the impression of travel at 28,000 kmph! The color was a brilliant yellowish gold. There was no "flicker" or "sparkle", which I often note with the naked eye. Perhaps the best part was tracking it into the shadow. The color rapidly deepened in hue, first to a rich gold, then orange, then a deep red, similar to the color of the Moon during the recent eclipse. Then, before I knew it, Mir was gone! Well, I never did find Raduga 33, but the efforet was still well worth it. Besides, stargazing in early March with a 22-degree C air temperature in Northern Virginia is kinda nice! Cheers, Geoff +===========================================================+ | Geoff Chester grc@usno.navy.mil Public Affairs Office | | http://www.usno.navy.mil US Naval Observatory | | (202) 762-1438 3450 Massachusetts Avenue, NW | | (202) 762-1489 (FAX) Washington, DC 20392 | |-----------------------------------------------------------| | "Each passing hour brings the Solar System 43,000 miles | | closer to the globular cluster M13 in Hercules; yet there | | are still some misfits who insist there's no such thing | | as progress!" -- Ransom K. Fern | +===========================================================+ ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Mar 09 2000 - 08:22:20 PST