[vsnet-chat 3102] Re: Perseus flash

[Fred Ringwald <ringwald@astro.fit.edu>]

Dear Taichi,

The Perseus Flasher was the subject of the very first paper I ever
published, along with George Corso and Ron Harris:

Corso, G. J., Harris, R. W., Ringwald, F. A. 1987, A&A, 183, L9.

Essentially, we monitored the error box of Katz et al. (1986, ApJ, 307,
L33, "Optical flashes in Perseus"), and saw nothing.  Katz et al. had
estimated a recurrence time for the flashes at about 12 hours, so this
wasn't encouraging.  Less encouraging was the result of Brad Schaefer et
al. (1987, ApJ, 320, 398, "The Perseus Flasher and satellite glints"), who
also monitored the error box and saw nothing---for 3400 hours! They also
found that "both the observational and theoretical glint rates indicate
that most, if not all, PF observations are caused by satellite glints."

Paul Maley did indeed trace the one they photographed and published in Sky
& Telescoope to a satellite glint (1987, ApJ, 317, L39, "Specular
satellite reflection and the 1985 March 19 optical outburst in Perseus").
Susan Tokarz et al. (1988, PASP, 100, 1228, "A search for the Perseus
flasher and the limits on optical burst rates") looked through the plate
archives of Harvard College Observatory, and got new observations, coming
to a total of 260 hours.  Again, they came up with no flashes, concluded
the photographed one was a satellite glint, "and that most of the
remaining, visually detected flashes were spurious."  Best,

=======================================================================
Fred Ringwald                    ... to further the progress of science,
Dept. of Physics & Space Sciences    to guide to an understanding
Florida Institute of Technology           of the majesty of the heavens,
150 West University Boulevard        to emphasize that
Melbourne, FL 32901-6988, USA       under the great celestial firmament,
Phone: +1-407-674-8098/7135  there is order, interdependence, and unity.
  Fax: +1-407-674-7482                    -- Adler Planetarium, Chicago 
Email: ringwald@astro.fit.edu  www.astro.fit.edu/ringwald/ringwald.html

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