My Other Interest : Iridium Flares & other
Satellite Observation
Every evening and early morning hundreds of satellites
pass over Singapore. Of these at least a handful is bright enough to be
seen with the naked eye. The positions and timings of these appearances
can be easily obtained from prediction services or DIY predictions using
widely available from the web.
These satellites appear as bright dots (very star- like) of light that
move across the sky. The brightest satellites seen in Singapore sky are
around 0.0 ~ 2+ magnitude. Of notably exception is Iridium flare (reflected
sunlight from door-size MMA module) which can easily outshine Venus. The
brighest Iridium Flare seen here is magnitude -7 making it the second brightest
object in the sky after our moon. Typical flares last 5-10 seconds. What
attract me to this new hobby is the highly predictable flare occurrence
(within seconds of prediction). The skill sets acquired in sky-watcher
come into handy for satellite observation and tracking.
You do not need any special dark sky to enjoy Bright Iridium Flares
- I have observed flares in downtown Orchard - not far from Orchard MRT
Station, and also minutes after I disembark from Yishun MRT station in
time to view the double flares besides the overhead Railtracks! I have
also seen flares where not even a single star is visible (worst Limiting
magnitude).
-
Iridium Flare Observation A Practical
Guide - include listings of longitude and latitude for selected Singapore
towns to facilitate DIY predictions. *Entire fleets of Iridium Sats
will be deorbited soon. While details of de-orbiting is sketchy - it might
take up to eight months to bring all the birds down.
-
Ground track of a typical minus 8 mag.flare ( x39 times brighter
than Venus!) spans ~8 kilometers in track width and is sensitive to
longitudes ( East-West). Since Singapore Island spans more than 40
kilometers width-wise some site will NOT see the flare. Flare's looking
angle ( AZ and elevation ) and mirror angle along the predicted North-South
or South-North direction of the Iridium Satellite paths differ very
little from beginning to end in whole Island.
-
What Satellite is that? - A Practical Guide for satellite Identification
- Prediction vs actual (..soon)
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Join in the fun of Space debris Reentry Watch.
- Excellent Satellite Prediction Site to help you to see Iridium, MIR, Zarya and Space Shuttle at the German Space Operations Centre