Wesley's Tool-Box

Mars comes very close to Earth every 780 days or so. This happened again last night - distance between Mars and Earth was 0.618 AU. The last time Mars made an approach closer than this was back in December 19, 2007, when it was 0.589 AU. At these distances, Mars is 15 arc seconds big, which registers as 10 pixels wide on my SX50 HS at maximum optical zoom. Until the next approaches on May 31, 2016, or July 31, 2018, this is about as big as it gets for the camera. Still, using both the 2x digital teleconverter and RegiStax stacking, I was able to get a clearer image of the planet from the multiple photos.

Meanwhile, a full moon was right next to Mars yesterday. This created a good opportunity to take both the Moon and Mars in the same photo. Full moon is quite bright, but Mars was also shining at its peak (-1.4 magnitude), so it was holding on its own. Interestingly, a lunar eclipse is also supposed to happen today, dimming the Moon so that Mars would be easier to see. But it happens during the day here, while both the Moon and Mars are below the horizon. So that's no go for me.

The lunar eclipse that is visible in my country would happen on the early evening of October 8, 2014, starting as the Moon rises from the horizon. At that time, the faint Uranus (5.7 magnitude) would be next to the Moon. I wonder if the eclipsed Moon would be dim enough for me to see the planet, weather and location permitting.

Device: Canon SX50 HS
Filters: None
Location: Suwon, Korea

Main Image
Settings: 351mm (reduced to 20%) - ISO 80 - 1/80s - f/5.6
Time: 2014-04-14 23:34 KST

Inset
Settings: 1200mm (w/ 2x Digital TC) - ISO 80 - 1/200s - f/6.5
Time: 2014-04-14 23:23 KST
41 photos stacked with RegiStax 6.1.0.8

This series of images I took of the International Space Station (ISS) seem to explain the "sideways" view of the station I've taken a few times before better. Until the close approach, only the center area is visibly illuminated. At the closest point, the solar panels stretching from top to bottom become apparent.

The panels form the two columns of the "H" shape when viewed from the "front". But in these images, the shape is more like a mirrored "ㅔ". I guess this view can reveal a docking spaceship, if there is one and is big enough.

Device: Canon SX50 HS
Settings: 1200mm (2x enlarged) - ISO 160 - 1/320s - f/6.5
Filters: None
Time: 2014-04-06 20:35 KST
Location: Suwon, Korea
Max Magnitude: -3.6

Shortly after watching the MetOp-A satellite flare, I pointed the camera vertically up for a test of how long I could leave the shutter open before the light pollution whitened things out. In the process, the entirety of two constellations, Urga Major and Leo Minor, were caught in the resulting photo. The Big Dipper makes up the bottom portion of the Ursa Major.

If you click on the image for the full resolution version, the star trails are noticeable. I'll be trying out a star tracker I recently bought to see if this can be effectively eliminated. Too bad the weather these days are generally cloudy.

Device: Canon SX50 HS
Settings: 24mm - ISO 80 - 60s - f/3.4
Filters: None
Time: 2014-04-08 21:31 KST
Location: Suwon, Korea

Launched in 2006, MetOp-A is the first European operational meteorological satellite, which is in a polar orbit. It currently serves as the backup of the MetOp-B that was launched in 2012. They also exhibit flares, although relatively less frequent and dimmer compared to the Iridium fleet.

This photo is a first for me in many aspects. It's the first time I did a long-exposure capture of a satellite flare. Previous ones were done in burst shots, then later animated and/or composited. It's also the first time that I used SX50 HS to capture a flare. iPhone 5S is better at burst shots, but not long exposure. Finally, this is the first non-Iridium flare that I caught in a photo.

The satellite moved downward in the northern sky, below the bright Polaris visible on the left side of the photo. If you click on the photo for a larger version, you can see most of the constellation Ursa Minor / Little Dipper covering the top part.

Considering the light pollution, this observation suggests that the satellite needs to be at least -1.0 magnitude at maximum, and be more than 30 degrees above horizon to make a noticeable streak in the photo. I guess that explains why I couldn't catch Tiangong-1 space station on photo several months ago.

Device: Canon SX50 HS
Settings: 45mm - ISO 200 - 15s - f/4.0
Filters: None
Time: 2014-04-08 21:26:38 KST
Location: Suwon, Korea
Max Magnitude: -2.2

While I have observed the International Space Station (ISS) making a pass in front of the Sun before, it was at a resort far away from home. Yesterday, I had the good fortune of witnessing a pass right at home. My daughter Celine wanted to help out, so I let her set up the equipment and we went to the parking lot to start photographing. We took the photos of the Sun together, and in three of the frames, the ISS was found crossing in front of the Sun. Here is the composite of the three frames set against the stacked 32 frames I shot in 14 seconds while attempting to capture the transit, both in the annotated and full version.

The last frame was really lucky, as it was taken just before ISS got out of the Sun's disk - 0.1 seconds late and we would have ended up taking two frames instead. SX50 HS's regular burst mode takes a photo every 0.43 seconds, so given the transit time of less than a second, this was the best outcome I could expect.

I do wish the fast burst mode, which can take a photo every 0.077 seconds, could take more than 10 photos at once, though. The transit prediction from CalSky is pretty accurate, but local clock error and human reaction delay can creep in. So I would need it to last at least five seconds or so. I should either wait for Canon to make a superzoom camera that can shoot longer bursts, or install an iPhone 5S, which can do 0.1-second burst shots for several minutes, on a telescope. I'm saying this because I missed the Moon - ISS transit on Saturday while using the fast burst mode.


Anyways, here's the animated version of the transit that illustrates the movement quite well. Come to think of it, this sort of pass would be hard to see in person with binoculars - ISS is tiny and moves quite fast, so unless the Sun is magnified really big, it'd be hard to notice.

Device: Canon SX50 HS
Settings: 1200mm - ISO 500 - 1/1250s - f/6.5
Filters: Baader AstroSolar Safety Film
Time: 2014-03-23 08:57 KST
Location: Suwon, Korea
Base photo: 32 photos stacked with RegiStax 6.1.0.8 (08:57:10 - 08:57:24)
Animation: 5 photos (08:57:16.8 - 08:57.18.5)