Entries tagged as satellite

Iridium 40 satellite flare

20 seconds of Iridium 40 satellite flare in one image

While visiting Ulsan, there was a bright flare at -6.4 magnitude of the Iridium 40 satellite in the southern sky last evening. It was so bright that my iPhone 5S had no problem recording it in its burst mode (10fps at 8 megapixels). It was quite a sight to see. Here are two ways of seeing it in action:

1. Youtube Video


2. Animated GIF (click the thumbnail)

Iridium 40 flare

Device: iPhone 5S
Settings: 30mm - ISO 2500 - 1/15s - f/2.2
Time: 2013-12-27 18:38 KST
Location: Ulsan, Korea
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Waxing moon

Waxing Moon taken with Canon SX50 HS
Both the Moon and Venus shared the crescent shape (38% size)

The Moon was photographed right after Venus last Saturday due to its proximity to the planet. It's been more than three months since I took picture of it, so it was an interesting refresher.

The shadows make the craters look more pronounced, which produces a lot more interesting photo than a Full Moon. The little craters inside the "seas" were pretty cool to notice, too. It was the first time I used the Moon & Skyglow filter on the Moon, and I guess that helped, too.

Settings: Canon SX50 HS - 1200mm - ISO 80 - 1/60s - f/6.5
Filters: Baader M&S applied
Time: 2013-12-07 17:41 KST
Location: Suwon, Korea
67 photos stacked with RegiStax 6.1.0.8
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Keeping an eye on Jupiter

Jovian system taken with Canon SX50 HS
Europa-Io-Jupiter-Ganymede-Callisto

Last Saturday was a pretty good day to see the stars. The smog was lifted and the clouds were barely present during the night. I already made a post about seeing Venus, but I took a look at Jupiter as well. Earth is moving closer to the planet and it'll be at its closest in a month (January 5, 2014), so the view would be nice and big for the next couple of months.

In this composite photo, all four Galilean satellites are present, and the Great Red Spot is visible as a wrinkle in the right end of the lower dark band. 50x magnification on Canon SX50 HS is really at its limit here.

Settings: Canon SX50 HS - 1200mm - f/6.5
Filters: Baader M&S applied
Time: 2013-12-07 22:25 - 22:32 KST
Location: Suwon, Korea
Photos stacked with RegiStax 6.1.0.8

Jupiter: ISO 80 - 1/50s, 19 photos stacked
Satellites: ISO 1600 - 1/5s, 42 photos stacked
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ISS passing near Jupiter

ISS and Jupiter shot by Canon SX50 HS in a single frame
ISS passes near Jupiter

Yesterday's passing of International Space Station had another interesting characteristic. It came within about 0.65 arc degrees of Jupiter at the closest, and I ended up taking both objects at once in several frames. This crop, reduced to 30%, shows one of such instances. You can see that the station looked both larger and brighter than Jupiter.

Composite of Jupiter and its satellites photographed by Canon SX50 HS
Jovian system
Callisto - Europa - Ganymede - Jupiter - Io

As for Jupiter itself, I photographed its system slightly later. Ganymede was pulling out of Jupiter and was barely visible outside of Jupiter's bright disc.

Time: 2013-11-12 06:02 - 06:23 KST
Top: 1200mm (reduced to 30%) - ISO 80 - 1/640s - 06:02
Bottom: 1200mm, stacked using RegiStax 6.1.0.8
- Jupiter: ISO 80 - 1/320s - 06:20, 7 frames
- Satellites: ISO 800 - 1/10s - 06:23, 27 frames
Location: Suwon, Korea
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ISS overhead approach

Three processed photographs of ISS taken with Canon SX50 HS
ISS gets bigger as it rises overhead

Just a day after successful testing of the iPhone-based tracker, ISS made a nearly direct overhead approach in the sky as seen from my house. This would provide an excellent opportunity to take biggest shots of the station because it would be at the shortest distance from the observer when it's directly overhead.

44-frame animation of the International Space Station coming closer
ISS incoming
As the space station rose in the southwestern sky at 6AM, I began tracking it with iPhone 5S and taking shots with SX50 HS. More than 200 shots were taken, and 44 photos deemed of good quality were selected for processing. You can see the animated version of the approach here, as well as the stacked version that bring out the detail of the station at three points of the observation.

This is the first time I could properly see the full spread of ISS in my photos - the solar panels and the main modules of the station in the iconic H shape configuration are clear and large, especially when it was only about 500km away. I'm frankly amazed that a point-and-shoot bridge camera could photograph a satellite this well even under ideal circumstances. We live in amazing times.

Settings: 1200mm (2x enlarged) - ISO 80 - 1/640s
Photos: 13 frames / 9 frames / 8 frames stacked using RegiStax 6.1.0.8
Time: 2013-11-12 06:00 - 06:02 KST
Location: Suwon, Korea
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