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Old 31st Jan 2017, 10:43
  #31 (permalink)  
peekay4
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Canada
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Hi compressor stall, it is possible that you indeed saw the Iridium Next satellites.

According to (approximate) calculations for that date from your location, Iridium 114 would have been at 36° elevation, 14° azimuth at 10:57 UTC and dropping to 22° elevation, 11° azimuth a minute later -- matching your observations. Many of the other Iridium Next satellites would have been nearby.

You can compute past or predicted positions by using an app or online calculator tool that accept "Two Line Element" (TLE) observation data published by the US Space Surveillance Network. Here's an example TLE for Iridium 114:

IRIDIUM 114 [+]
1 41923U 17003G 17030.22607686 .00000357 00000-0 39151-4 0 9996
2 41923 86.6609 79.6394 0011490 177.2547 182.8728 14.84387795 2297
This particular observation was made at Jan 30 00:25 UTC so calculations beyond a several days from this date wouldn't be too accurate.

Link: Iridium NEXT TLEs from Celestrak.
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