(meteorobs) Iridium Observations during Perseids

Jan Verfl verfl.meteors at seznam.cz
Fri Aug 17 09:56:50 EDT 2007


> As there is discussion on the site about a current photograph 
> showing a
> series of iridium flashes,  I would like to know  how an 
> iridium appears
> to a visual observer?


Hi,

I really doubt you have not seen an Iridium before, you just maybe did not
know it is one, because many of them are not much impressive and look just
like any other satelite of variable brightness  - they are SO numerous and
it is so for the past at least 5 years. Iridiums are satelites as all the
others, so you see them as a slowly moving "star" - thanks to their solar
panels or whatever causes the flashes, they usually appear brigthening and
fading again - the brightening takes several (maybe up to 10?) seconds, then
there is a second or two of the maximum and then the slow fading back again,
sometimes you see the faint satelite long before/after the flash. It is in
fact almost impossible to mistake it for a meteor and definitely for a
perseid, as the angular velocity is an order of magitude or two different.

Jan



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