Commentary on the evdidence for Echelon

[Paul Leyland]

Neil Clifford wrote:

> > I don't remember seeing any 2nd magnitude geosynchronous 
> objects and I'm
> > fairly sure that my subscription to The Astronomer would 
> have let me know if
> > anyone else had seen one.
> 
> They can flare up to mag +2 (or better, either side of the equinoxes):
> 
>  http://www.satellite.eu.org/sat/vsohp/geosats.html
> 
> Some have been noted to flash to mag 0 (at least).

Thank you.  Your comments only make my case stronger.  If the normal
brightness is 10 magnitudes or more fainter than a flare, then a flare from
0.2km reflector would cast obvious shadows at night and would also be easily
visible in broad daylight.   It's possible, I suppose, that some UFO
sightings could be explained by this mechanism but I rather doubt it myself.


Paul