I wish I had seen it last night because tonight was really less than spectacular. I caught the ISS earlier at ~6:50pm low in the south west but it was still quite visible and noticeably red from the inversion. USA 193 was higher than the ISS and moving in the opposite direction, but was much tougher to make out I didn't even catch a glimpse of it until it flared quite brightly but very brief, maybe 1/2 second at the most just as it passed under Gamma Pegasi "Algenib", then it faded until it was just barely visible to the naked eye, if I hadn't caught it when it flared I would've missed it entirely. I was still able to follow it up under Cassiopea and over the roof line of my home until it faded into the haze of SLC near Polaris. I took pictures of both ISS and USA 193 but the ISS barely registered and all I see on the shots of USA 193 are some stars no streak. Hopefully they get good shots of the debris field on thursday, at least I can say I saw it before it came down. Howard --- Patrick Wiggins <paw@wirelessbeehive.com> wrote:
193 was nothing like it was last evening.
Last evening it was in the SE and very bright.
Tonight it was in the SW so I expected it to be dimmer and it was. Unfortunately it was a lot dimmer.
I'm hearing it has now started to tumble as it flirts with the upper atmosphere and that was evident tonight.
I was only able to see it briefly when it rotated and flared near the end of the pass. Then faded quickly from view. Only visible for maybe 3 seconds.
Moving very fast.
Tonight was probably the last time we'll see it from here. Heavens Above calls for passes the next two nights but they'll also in the west (bad news for an evening pass) and much lower.
Let's hope Rob gets to see the debris train. If I understand the times correctly it'll still be light at Maui but some on SeeSat are speculating it could be bright enough to be visible.
patrick
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