12 June 2006: Iridium paroxysm
Jean-Luc Dighaye
On 12 June evening, a flare from Iridium 52 front antenna MMA0 was
foreseen at POR Munich, in Virgo, -8 magnitude at 23:59:02 local time
according to Heavens above and -6.5 mag according to
Calsky. The latter source indicated that Iridium 98, a spare
satellite with unknown status, might flare (also from MMA0 front antenna)
to -6.2 mag one second earlier (23:59:01), only 3.5° apart from the
Iridium 52 flare, in Bootes.
Both flares went beyond expectations, the brightest one from Iridium 52
exceeding -8 mag, and the other one being almost as bright. It was the
most spectacular Iridium event I ever saw.
Image: Canon EOS 5D, 60s exposure time, 85/1.2 lens stopped down to f/2.2,
ISO 160. Image cropped to 20° field of view.
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