NOSS 2-1 (C) very bright

In the evening of August 28, during a short clearing, I was testing a new lens, the very fine Samyang F1.4/85 mm Aspherical IF.

The EOS 450D with the lens was mounted piggyback on my Meade ETX-70, with the ETX following the movement of the stars.

While making a series of images of the Deneb area, situated near the zenith, a bright naked eye satellite of mag. +1.5 passed through Cygnus and the camera field.

On the image, it turned out to be accompanied by two other satellites, much fainter. It actually was the NOSS 2-1 trio, and the bright one was the (C) component (1990-050C). Below is the image:

click image to enlarge

NOSS-es usually do not get this bright in the zenith and I have never seen 1990-050C this bright before. Scott Tilley from the USA has recently observed the same unusual brightness of NOSS 2-1(C), and so did Brad Young.

The lens I was testing, the Samyang F1.4/85 mm Aspherical IF which gets raving reviews on the internet, turns out to be an extremely fine F1.4 lens. The optical quality is astounding, and this at a cost of only €269,- !