(meteorobs) Observations -- East GA, April 28/29

[Tony Beresford]

At 09:53 AM 1/05/05, Kim Youmans wrote:
>John,
>That would fit in nicely with my observation, then.  The satellite would have been positioned between me and the sun.  As I noted, my magnitude estimate was "rough" because I didn't get a clear look at it.  It didn't seem meteoric at all.
>
>Kim Y.

Kim,John,
If you check out Meteor priorada ( catalog number 12585, 1981 65A) with www.hreavens-above.com 
you will find it wasn't sunlit at your indicated location, only leaving the shadow  about 25 degrees further along the track.
 It would also have been there closer to 23:02 EDT rather than 23:05. I assume Kim's time estimate
was + or - 2 minutes.
There were other satellite suspects , but none seem to me to be a likely suspect.
I found them using Mike McCant's FINDSAT programme.

On seeing Kim's report my first thought was a a glint from one of the tumbling Iridium's,
but it turns out none were in the vicinity at the time. I have seen these 2 or 3 times myself.
Just one or sometimes two strobe length flashes, that one wonders if it was  real or something
internal to ones visual system. They can be mag -7to -8 like iridium flares. However the short
duration probably lowers the apparent brightness.

Tony B