Saturday 3 September 2005

Flare of Lacrosse 4 (00-047A)

Targeted Lacrosse 4 (00-047A, #26473) again this evening.
Observing conditions were poor, the skies were hazy. Some
10-15 minutes before Lacrosse 4 I saw a nive bright sat
of about magnitude -1 to -2 low in the sky descending
to the southeast.

Lacrosse 4 made an Iridium-like flare, something which I
have not seen a Lacrosse do before. Starting at about
magnitude +2.5 when I started the exposure, it brightened
and gave a brief flare of about magnitude +0.5 some 10
seconds after the end of the exposure. The onset of this
was just captured on the image, the end tip of the trail
on the exposure is suddenly bright and fat.

This last point is some 0.2 seconds late relative to elset
05245.92208782

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