Double Iridium Flare

[CoombellKid]

Checking Heavens Above this evening it told me Iridium 59 was going
to flare at 18:56:06 so out I trot sure enough around the time mentioned
I obsrved a flare not far from but NE of the moon. I noticed another
satelite traveling a similar flight path following 5 or 6 degrees behind. I
watch this one flare right up. According to Starry Night this was Iridium 59
the preceding one was Iridium 95, which wasn't predicted by Heavens
Above, but it did. I estimate it flare to -1 to -1.5 if Heavens Above was
correct with Iridium 59. The peaks were 4 or 5 seconds apart, as 95
ramped down and out 59 ramped up. I never seen them that close before.
Although I have seen two of a predicted three over half an hour.

regards,CS

[Gargoyle_Steve (Steve)]

Nice stuff Rob!!

I once saw a similar pairing of Iridiums, they occurred about 10° and 20 seconds apart. It makes you think the damn skies are just full of them!

I remember once observing M42 low in the western sky when a satellite trailed lazily across it, I tracked along with the northbound sat for a while then realised another, slightly faster, satellite was moving into the field of view, travelling in almost the same direction. I watched as the newcomer caught up, overtook, and then crossed over the flight line of the first one.

I always get a sort of "special" feeling to catch these kinds of rarer events, if that makes sense.