On December 12 and 13 the FITSAT-1 CubeSat will be sending Morse code by flashing its array of super-bright LEDs. Depending on local conditions, the light may be visible to the naked eye and will be easily visible through binoculars. The LEDs will send “HI DE NIWAKA JAPAN.”

The satellite will be visible over the eastern half of the United States on the morning of December 12. The LEDs will flash for two minutes starting at 0614 UTC. Europeans will get their chance at 2210 UTC on December 13.

FITSAT-1 was developed by students at the Fukuoka Institute of Technology (FIT) in Japan. As well as the optical LED experiment the satellite carries several Amateur Radio payloads: a CW beacon on 437.250 MHz, a telemetry beacon on 437.445 MHz and a high-speed data downlink on 5840.0 MHz.

More FITSAT tracking information is available at http://www.satflare.com/track.php?q=fitsat#MAP.

--Our thanks to Trevor, M5AKA, AMSAT-UK