Iridia miss the Moon

Here are visible pass charts of Iridium flares within several degrees from the Moon. In total 300 bright flares starting from August 2000 were checked. No transits were observed from my location. Five closest misses are shown.

  • Iridium 51 on Aug 21, 2000 (-4 m at my location and not too close to Moon)
  • Iridium 64 on Jan 05, 2001 (+0 m, just passed by Moon 25 sec prior flare)
  • Iridium 11 on Feb 02, 2001 (-8 m, yet between Jupiter and Saturn!!!)
  • Iridium 59 on Mar 02, 2001 (-4 m, but with Sun only at -3 deg "elevation" - otherwise probably the most impessive one. Transit should have been seen from somewhere 30-40 km due south).
  • Iridium 49 on May 04, 2001 (-7 m in Leo, passed by Moon 45 sec prior flare)

    Comments:

  • Charts are drawn for the point in Moscow with lat=55o45', long=37o37'
  • Moon's size on plots is about 4 times larger than the real one!
  • Moments of flares are marked with a red circle

    Related links

  • Maps showing flares distribution over the sky during 2000 and 2001
  • Iridium flares in Moscow this week

    Denis V. Denissenko (denis@hea.iki.rssi.ru)

    To my Astronomy Page
    To my Main Page