Amateur Astronomers

>>9072754
In an earlier thread about this, some Anon posted a link to a Russian site where somebody got to talking to the designer(s) of Mayak and tried to explain to them why there calculations of how bright it would be when viewed from the ground were WAY off.

I am sorry I did not save the link, it was fascinating -- the designer(s) seemed really unable to follow what was being explained to them -- but the upshot was that the satellite, as designed, would likely only be visible at all under perfect conditions and then probably would be hard to spot other than rare flashes when a facet "spotlighted" you as the thing tumbled.

Hopefully some other Anon saved the link.

>>9072821
>the satellite, as designed, would likely only be visible at all under perfect conditions and then probably would be hard to spot other than rare flashes when a facet "spotlighted" you as the thing tumbled.

I was thinking that too considering I saw absolutely nothing when I looked for it the other night. Assuming it's in a relatively stable orbit (by which I mean it's not tumbling or spinning) it would be completely invisible to a massive part of the area it's passing over. I would be interested in knowing how bright it can get under optimal conditions, but it doesn't really seem like the designers thought it through all that well. Too bad because it seems like a fun concept to get people interested in space. Maybe I can find that link in the archive.