More fun with a GPS: Iridium Flares

[+tonyjago]

Hi all, I just though I would let people know about yet another interesting use of their GPS receiver. Iridium Flares are caused by the sun reflecting off the Main Mission Antenna and falling on earth. To see one of these reflections it really is a case of being in the right place and at the right time. Here is where your GPS and the Heavens Above web site comes into play. Using your GPS grab your exact location and enter it into your personal configuration at the heavens above web site. From here, with a click of your mouse the web site can generate a list of flares visible from this location. Often the flare will be visible but your current location will not be optimal. The site will indicate where the best location is from where you are and you can use your GPS to navigate to this site. Finally, the exact time the flare appears is specified, another great use for your GPS to get a super accurate time reading. A little tip, the time specifed in the web site is the peek of the flare, you probably want to be watching from perhaps 20-30 seconds before the indicated time so that you can see the flare appear and fade as the satellite passes overhead. Happy satellite spotting

 

Tony

 

[+alienpuppy]

Very cool. I hope to see the -8 magnitude one by my house this next week!

 

/Alienpuppy

[+culpc]

Now that I have this valuable piece of information and a new mission for being outside gawking at the sky, I find that it is three days until there will be a predicted flare...

 

Cool site! Another cool satellite site is NASA Liftoff site. This one give orbital tracks for a variety of satellites.

 

Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son!

[+vds]

Heavens Above is a GREAT web site, I've been watching Iridium flares for a number of years, you can even see some in daytime once in a while.

 

Its calculations are 'very' accurate, it's nothing to see 10-15 visible satellites in a couple hours if you get a moonless clear night, even just north of Tacoma where you'd think there would be lots of light scatter.

 

Coolest thing I saw there was the Shuttle docking with Mir (may it rest in pieces) on two consecutive orbits, you could see how they caught up to the station on the first orbit, then changed altitude and met for the docking.

 

Shuttle was a brilliant white, Mir was a little yellowish but bigger. Very. Shuttle and the ISS are pretty cool too.

[Aladin Sane]

I use the Heavens Above site to program my Meade ETX 70 Telescope to track satellite passes. Just another manifestation of my gadget addiction.

[Gustaf]

I just watched a mag -8 over my house. Much brighter than I expected. Thanks for letting me know about this.

[+Mudfrog]

Ive been using the HeavensAbove site for almost two years now. The site is terrific. For the first 6 months i had put in the town where i lived to receive the information. Was ok but not as accurate as inputting the exact coordinates. Finally found the Topozone site and was able to get more accurate. Whats bad is that i never even thought of using my GPSr to get the coordinates,,,DUH!!!!

 

By the way, dont forget to check out the ISS, HST, and the shuttle fly bys when its up. Just too cool!

[+GEO*Trailblazer 1]

check out this one http://topex-www.jpl.nasa.gov/ lots of fun with the GPS, look under Techology- Tandem mission

[+bradtal]

How cool! I just saw my first Iridium Flare last night. Talk about neat! I thought it was cool that the webpage told me what time to look, which direction to point, and what altitude in the sky it would be at. Sure enough, right on time, right in the correct direction, it showed up. It was much brighter than I expected it to be.

 

Anyways, thanks for posting this new cool thing to use my GPS for!

 

Brad

[+alienpuppy]

This may be a stupid question... I'm new to star gazing, artificial or otherwise.

 

I stood out there waiting for my flare, and I think I was looking in the right direction. Maybe I missed it (I was distracted by my pups right when the flare was supposed to happen), but I think I couldn't see it because of the moon and the light pollution from the city.

 

How dark does it have to be to see one of these flares? Should I trek out to the country on a moon-less night to see it?

 

/Alienpuppy

[Couch_Potato]

quote:

---

Originally posted by alienpuppy:

How dark does it have to be to see one of these flares? Should I trek out to the country on a moon-less night to see it?

---

 

You don't have to go to extrordinary measures to see iridium flares. As mentioned previously there are even some visible during the day. At the center of the flare track it can be the brightest thing in the sky barring the sun and moon. Just remember that the lower the magnitude value, the brighter it is. The brightest flares are about -8.5 magnitude. Venus, the evening star, is only about -4.5 magnitude, close to 1/100th the brightness of the brightest flare! So if it's dark enough for you to see some stars it is definately dark enough to see a flare.

 

One of the neat things about the heaveans above page is that they tell you how far from the center of the flare track. Projecting a waypoint will lead you to the brightest view of the track.

 

I'm not lost!

I just don't know where I am.

[erobbins]

I spent a full summer planning for and watching Iridium flares from my backyard with my brother-in-law. Even after seeing dozens of them, it is still exciting to see one appear before your eyes.

 

On two occaisions, I have seen them without planning. The first was two summers ago, while sitting on my back patio chatting with my brother-in-law... I saw one and said to myself, "no way". We checked the website and sure enough, it was a flare.

 

The second was just last month, while on the beach with my wife about 50 miles south of Cancun, Mexico. We were staring up at the stars, and right in front of us (elevation 40 degrees or so), was what I would estimate was a magnitude -8 or so Iridium flare. Way cool.

 

EDR

[Gustaf]

I made a cache of this:Satellite spotting

[+honeychile]

When I read the title of this thread, I thought, "oh good grief -- what kind of dangerous stuff are they putting in caches now?" Tee hee.

 

-honeychile-

 

'*+.,_,.+*'`'*+.,_A joyful heart is good medicine!_,.+*'`'*+.,_,.+*'`

[+Damaxx]

Thanks for passing this on. Very cool. I've never looked for Iridium flares before finding out about this here. We plugged in our coordinates from our GPS and it worked perfectly. Saw our first tonight. It was exactly in the sky where we expected. It was listed as only -2 Mag, but was much brighter than I expected. Noticed that mentioned a few times in this thread. Can't wait to see a -8 Mag!

 

Damaxx

[+mtn-man]

I have been a fan of the Heaven Above page for many years. It was called something else before and was at a different URL. I have looked for MIR, the Shuttle and now the Int'l Space Station using that page. One of the fun things about camping out on top of peaks on new moon nights is keeping a low fire and spotting satellites that fly over. I love camping on peaks because you can see them for so long as they go to the horizon.

 

The J-Track page is really awesome. Go to the J-Track 3D page and make the update rate 1/4 second. You can zoom in and out, move the field around and identify what is what in the field. You click, hold and drag the field to move it, but it will take some time to get used to that. Large dots are close to your point of view, small dots are more than halfway away from you. It is neat to look at the GPS satellites and then add the ground track from the view menu to see the wild up and down track that they paint on the earth. It is also interesting to look at where they are in relation to the ISS and/or the Shuttle (of course, it is not up there now!). For a neat trick, find the Chandra Observatory satellite! Its orbital path is something else.

 

As a side note, at least the Main Propulsion System flow liners on Endeavour have been fixed so it is set to lift off now on October 2. That is, if they get the dang JEL (jacking, equalization and leveling) cylinder bearings problem fixed on the Crawler Transporters in time! Its always something.

 

I support the Georgia Geocachers Association, or the GGA!

[+georgeandmary]

I just thought of an extra credit assignment i can give my science students.

 

george

 

Remember: Half the people you meet are below average.

[+Jamie Z]

Saw my first flare this morning at around 5:30am. It was of -4 magnitude, and was about as bright as I expected.

 

To be honest, the visual wasn't much to see, but it was very cool to stand down on the street, looking at my GPS and knowing exactly when it would appear, and then there it was.

 

There is a -7 mag coming to my area soon. I'm going to make plans to see it.

 

Thanks for the heads up about this. I'd been on the Heaven's Above site many times, but it all seemed too technical for me, but now I'm beginning to understand.

 

Jamie

[AlanShutko]

I'm lucky enough to have a -8 tonight, 4km from my house so it's still going to be -8 at home. That's service. 8^)

[+The Cheeseheads]

quote:

---

One of the neat things about the heaveans above page is that they tell you how far from the center of the flare track. Projecting a waypoint will lead you to the brightest view of the track.

---

 

Actually, if you click on the local time, you'll go to a more detailed page which will give you the exact coordinates of the flare center, which will make it even easier to get to.

 

- - - - -

Wisconsin Geocaching Association

[+mtn-man]

I had not noticed before that you can actually subscribe to Heavens Above through AvantGo and have the information put on your PDA. I did it last night and it is truly sweeeet. Carry the general info directly with you!!!

[+embra]

I missed a -2 last night because military time requires more fingers than I have (went outside an hour late). But there was a -8 tonight that I caught and it was impressive. Especially cool when you drag a bewildered spouse out in the yard and count it down to the second. I felt like a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's court.

 

max

Just visiting this planet

[+CYBret]

I've tried to see two Iridium Flares in the past couple of weeks, and both times I've gotten skunked. I was pretty close to the center on both of them, should I be looking overhead? How long do these things last?

 

One other thing, when I signed up for the Heavens Above website, I entered my home timezone as US Central (Illinois). Everything else says I'm -6:00 from GMT, but Heavens Above says I'm -5:00. I'm wondering if this is the problem.

 

Bret

 

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.

When a man found it, he hid it again." Mt. 13:44

[+CacheCows]

quote:

---

Originally posted by CYBret:

I've tried to see two Iridium Flares in the past couple of weeks, and both times I've gotten skunked. I was pretty close to the center on both of them, should I be looking overhead? How long do these things last?

 

One other thing, when I signed up for the Heavens Above website, I entered my home timezone as US Central (Illinois). Everything else says I'm -6:00 from GMT, but Heavens Above says I'm -5:00. I'm wondering if this is the problem.

 

Bret

 

__"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.

When a man found it, he hid it again."_ Mt. 13:44_

---

Bret,

1) You must look at the Azmiuth and Alt., not overhead (unless of course the Alt. coincidentally was 90°.

 

For the Azimuth, 0° is due north, 45° is NNE, 90° is east etc. around the compass. For the Alt., 0° is the horizon, 45° is hald way up the sky, and 90° is above your head. A rule of thumb is that the width of your hand held at arm's length is about 10°.

 

While were talkking, I'll also mention that in the number displayed for the Intensity, the smaller the number the brighter, with a -3 being okay, and a -8 being great! Positive numbers (being bigger than negative numbers) are really poor.

 

2) Heavens Above automatically calibrates for daylight savings time, hence what looks like a descrepancy.

 

_________________________________

Member:

[+CacheCows]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Team CacheCows of Wisconsin:

quote:

---

Originally posted by CYBret:

I've tried to see two Iridium Flares in the past couple of weeks, and both times I've gotten skunked. I was pretty close to the center on both of them, should I be looking overhead? How long do these things last?

 

One other thing, when I signed up for the Heavens Above website, I entered my home timezone as US Central (Illinois). Everything else says I'm -6:00 from GMT, but Heavens Above says I'm -5:00. I'm wondering if this is the problem.

 

Bret

 

__"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.

When a man found it, he hid it again."_ Mt. 13:44_

---

Bret,

1) You must look at the _Azmiuth_ and _Alt._, not overhead (unless of course the _Alt._ coincidentally was _90°_.

 

For the Azimuth, 0° is due north, 45° is NNE, 90° is east etc. around the compass. For the Alt., 0° is the horizon, 45° is hald way up the sky, and 90° is above your head. A rule of thumb is that the width of your hand held at arm's length is about 10°.

 

They last about 3-5 seconds. Watch for the dim sat. as it approches the flare point, you will see the dim speck flare to intensity, then dim back to a speck.

 

While were talking, I'll also mention that in the number displayed for the _Intensity_, the smaller the number the brighter, with a -3 being okay, and a -8 being great! Positive numbers (being bigger than negative numbers) are really poor.

 

2) Heavens Above automatically calibrates for daylight savings time, hence what looks like a descrepancy.

 

_________________________________

Member:http://www.wi-geocaching.com

---

 

_________________________________

Member:

[+Jamie Z]

One thing that Heaven's Above notes is that most people don't realize how high up 45° or higher is. If you have a protractor, you can make a simple sextant...and if you don't have a protractor, they're only a buck or two.

 

 

Protractors generally have a hole right at the center. Take a piece of string with a knot in it and put it through the hole. Tie a plumb-bob on the other end.

 

 

Now, tape a drinking straw to the straight edge. (this isn't completely necessary, but makes observation a bit easier)

 

 

On the Iridium Flare page on Heaven's Above, there will be an Altitude. This is how high you need to look. Take your tool, (no, get your mind out of the gutter) and hold it so the string with the bob lines up with the approriate degree mark. Now, look through the straw, that's the angle you need to look up in the sky for the flare.

 

Get you a compass, and you should be able to nearly pinpoint the exact location of the flare.

 

I got skunked tonight on my first opportunity to see a -8 magnitude, due to heavy cloud cover. I went out just in case... but didn't see anything. I can't even see the stars or the moon.

 

Jamie

[+WaylandersMA]

I had heard of these flares but never had an easy way to track them. My family thought, (let's just put up with Dad), when I dragged them to the supermarket parking lot in the town next door.

But when I counted down and pointed at the quickly brightening -8 Iridum they thought it was pretty cool. Even though I had read all the, "much brighter then I would have thought", I was still surprised at how bright it was.

Why don't they put a nice mirror on the ISS?