<html><head></head><body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div>(Revised email)</div><div><br></div><div>Hallo Vic</div><div><br></div><div>Like Willie said - It is not always an iridium satellite. Sometimes you are lucky if you have binoculars ready. You wil see the satellite which is not visible with the naked eye after the reflection.<br><span></span><br><span>The more you go outside to observe the sky, the more you will see these</span><br><span>unexplainable explainables</span></div><div><span></span><br><span>My guess is a satellite and the sun reflected from the body or a solar</span><br><span>pannel. I have seen it many time at strange hours of the night. Depending on how high above the earth the satellite is and also the position of the sun.</span><br><span></span><br><span>Next time: write down the exact time it happens. Make a rough drawing of the</span><br><span>brightest stars. Then use a star map or free softtware like Orbitron to plot the</span><br><span>satellites like Hubble, ISS and many others. Orbitron will tell you in which constellation the satellite was at a specific time.</span></div><div><span><br></span></div><div><span>The free software - Stelarium, will also show a number of visible satellites in real time. Google stelarium and download. Look in the different menus - you must download the satelellite info seperately.</span></div><div><span></span><br><span>The website <a href="http://www.heavens-above.com/" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-result="2">www.heavens-above.com</a> wil also help to plot satellites. For iridium satellites you must select the town/city where you are observing from.</span><br><span></span><br><span>It is big family fun to watch how the iridium satellites flair. Sometimes</span><br><span>magnitude -8.</span><br><span></span><br><span>The above website and software will also help you with the predictions of</span><br><span>the iridium satellites.</span><br><span></span><br>(Last night we followed Iridium 6 from Reebok. It flaired to mag 1. Not very bright, but we could see the difference. - 6 Jan)</div><div><span></span><br><span>Hannes Pieterse</span><br><a href="http://assabfn.blogspot.com/" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-result="3">assabfn.blogspot.com</a><br><br>Hannes Pieterse</div><div><br>On 07 Jan 2012, at 0:46, Willie Koorts <<a href="mailto:wpk@saao.ac.za">wpk@saao.ac.za</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><div></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><div style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 10pt; color: #006600">Hi Vic<br><br>If I may dare a reply, this could of course have been a number of things (apart from an explosion). Although you say it was not moving, the fact that it was of short duration is probably most likely a glint off a flat surface of a high altitude satellite which is otherwise invisible, being too faint. I have seen similar events before. Even geostationary satellites can produce naked eye flashes if the circumstances are good.<br><br>Regards<br>Willie<br><br><hr id="zwchr"><blockquote style="border-left:2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255);margin-left:5px;padding-left:5px;color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><b>From: </b>"Vic Viviers" <<a href="mailto:vicviviers@telkomsa.net">vicviviers@telkomsa.net</a>><br><b>To: </b><a href="mailto:astronet@mail.saasta.ac.za">astronet@mail.saasta.ac.za</a><br><b>Sent: </b>Thursday, 5 January, 2012 8:09:29 PM<br><b>Subject: </b>[AstroNet] Reporting an observation<br><br>
<title>Reporting an observation</title>
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<p><font size="2" face="Arial">Good day all</font>
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<p><font size="2" face="Arial">As a new member I wish to report something extraordinary that I have seen during the night on 2 January 2012 at +- 3:00:</font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">While I was lying awake looking at the stars as usual through my window towards the south-western sky there was a bright flash [not moving] that lasted for a split second at the point I was looking at. I have never seen anything like this before and was wondering whether I have observed an explosion of some heavenly object. </font></p>
<p><font size="2" face="Arial">Is there perhaps an explanation for this?</font>
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<p><font size="2" face="Arial">I would like to hear from you.</font>
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<p><font size="2" face="Arial">Regards</font>
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<p><font size="2" face="Arial">Vic Viviers</font>
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