Iridium Flares

I've never really checked out heavens above until tonight.

Now i am armed with times and dates off ISS passes,Mir and flares until the 4th march.

Not hopeful of catching a flare because i think unless you are looking at the exact RA and DEC at the exact time.......................you will miss is.

I really dont know how to determine RA and DEC. So all i have to go on is the time and general direction.

Lets hope that is good enough.


I use Orbitron for tracking over 20,000 satellites

20,000 satellites?

But there aint more then 2 dozen up there

Not hopeful of catching a flare because i think unless you are looking at the exact RA and DEC at the exact time.......................you will miss is.

If it's anyway bright, just look in the general direction at the right time and you'll spot it.

If it's anyway bright, just look in the general direction at the right time and you'll spot it.

Thats what i am thinking.

The "distance from centre".......................does this effect how bright it is or for how long it lasts?

I'm guessing for "how long it lasts" and the further the distance.......the dimmer it will be?

Distance will definatley affect the magnitude which I suppose means it affects the length of time you can see it for aswell.

Actually caught anothar one last night totally by chance. 30 odd years looking up at the sky and I see 2 in 2 weeks

which I suppose means it affects the length of time you can see it for aswell.

Yeah thats what i was thinking.

20,000 satellites?

But there aint more then 2 dozen up there

There are currently over 25,000 man-made objects in space, with over 8700 satellites orbiting the earth, and over 16,000 in a state of decay. Those figures are 11 years old, so there are a lot more now. Those figures do not include objects that are too small to be noted, which are many.