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To: HP8753; dragnet2

Iridium flares. Time and sky position relevant to the sunset seem correct. Thanks for that link.

It was cool, cool, cool to see.

Did see 2 other satellites higher up, and caught them in the binoculars (it’s all I have, hangs head in shame).


8 posted on 02/13/2012 7:09:45 PM PST by bigheadfred (Wogga la Hooga)
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To: bigheadfred
Did see 2 other satellites higher up, and caught them in the binoculars (it’s all I have, hangs head in shame).

Don't hang your head in shame. Binoculars are some of the best and least expensive equipment for looking at stuff in the night sky.
Most of the low budget telescopes have way too much magnification.

Rule of thumb in telescopes is 50X per 1" of aperture.
I have a 10" homemade telescope and at 200X things can be wavy if the atmosphere is unsettled.
I use my 10X50 Binos for a lot of sky gazing espescially for Satellite viewing.

That same web site put out a good mobile App for smartphones that works great and will tell you where and when to look for all kinds of satellites, ISS, iriduim flares and regular old satellites.
It was free off the Andriod Market on the phone
"Heavens Above" is the name of the App.

11 posted on 02/17/2012 8:53:37 AM PST by HP8753 (Live Free!!!! .............or don't.)
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To: bigheadfred
Jupiter and Venus (brighter one) are visable in the sky to the south,southwest after sunset. Venus will move closer to Jupiter over the next month.
They will be in Conjunction on March 15th.
You can see the 4 biggest moons of Jupiter with 10X binos.

Spotting Scope works pretty good too.

There is another good App for the smart phones called "Where is IO"

It will show you the rise and set times of the planets and also the positions of Jupiters 4 biggest moons.

12 posted on 02/17/2012 9:00:30 AM PST by HP8753 (Live Free!!!! .............or don't.)
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