Monday, 30 March 2009

Iranian Safir 2 r/b still slowly flaring

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Yesterday evening, the atmosphere was very dynamic, with short clear spells repeatedly giving way to fields of clouds. Nothwithstanding thes...
Thursday, 26 March 2009

More HEO object observations

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Yesterday afternoon I was very tired and fell a sleep on the couch. I woke up to find it clear outside, and the LEO observation window large...
Tuesday, 24 March 2009

Nice pass of USA 129

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The evening initially started clear. I observed the ISS , the Lacrosse 3 & 4 (97-064A & 00-047A) and the Keyhole USA 129 (96-072A)...
1 comment:
Sunday, 22 March 2009

March 21 Iridium 33 flashes

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Like yesterday and 4 days ago, I captured the Iridium 33 wreckage (97-051C) flashing again in a very regular pattern. Like the days before,...
Saturday, 21 March 2009

Very bright International Space Station (Updated)

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This evening I observed a magnificent pass of the International Space Station (ISS) , with the Shuttle docked to it. At about 40 degrees alt...
2 comments:

More flashing Iridium 33 wreckage, ISS, USA 200 and other high objects

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As I wrote in my previous post with the image of USA 129 flaring , yesterday evening I hauled a rich batch of objects. It started in twiligh...

USA 129 flaring

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This evening I bagged a rich bag of objects. Amongst them was the Keyhole satellite USA 129 (96-072A), that treated me on a bright mag. -1 ...
Friday, 20 March 2009

Imaging distant objects: USA 200

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Recently, I bought a new lens for my camera: a Canon EF 100/2.8 Macro USM. As this lens has a larger diameter than the EF 50/2.5 Macro I use...
Wednesday, 18 March 2009

More flashes from the Iridium 33 wreckage

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Yesterday evening, after observing the exciting ISS-Shuttle duo pass (see previous post ), I tried to observe flashes from the Iridium 33 wr...
Tuesday, 17 March 2009

Magnificent view of Shuttle and ISS just before docking!

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I had a pass of the Space Shuttle Discovery STS-119 and the ISS this evening about one hour before they docked. This meant they were movin...
9 comments:
Sunday, 15 March 2009

Iridium 33 wreckage photographed, with +4 glint

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This evening was quite clear, and I decided to employ my new Canon EF 100/2.8 USM Macro lens to image a pass of the Iridium 33 main wreckage...
Friday, 13 March 2009

A close call for the ISS

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Shortly after the collision of Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251, the news agencies are buzzing with a close call of the International Space Stati...
Wednesday, 11 March 2009

Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 wreckages observed

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I visually observed the main wrecks of both Iridium 33 and Kosmos 2251 with the Meade ETX-70 (7 cm F5 refractor) this evening. The Iridium ...
Saturday, 7 March 2009

An Iranian rocket (Safir 2 r/b)

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Weather finally allowed me to observe one of the new Iranian objects from the February 2nd launch . It concerned the rocket booster from the...
Sunday, 1 March 2009

Lacrosse 5 passing alpha Persei

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Earlier this week, on February the 24th, the generally very bad weather of this moment gave way to a short period of clear skies after dusk....
Tuesday, 24 February 2009

Comet C/2007 N3 Lulin from Leiden

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The weather is horrible these days, so I was much surprised by short clearings developing around local midnight last night. These allowed me...
6 comments:
Saturday, 21 February 2009

Aftermath of a space collision

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Over 200 fragments of the Feb 10th collision between Kosmos 2251 and Iridium 33 have now been catalogued. Together, they form two impressive...
1 comment:
Monday, 16 February 2009

Feb 15 Texas-Nebraska daylight fireball was NOT satellite debris

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Sightings of a bright daylight fireball seen from Texas to Nebraska on February 15th, have been widely reported in the press. Contrary to wh...
Thursday, 12 February 2009

In Memoriam: Iridium 33

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On 10 February 2009 at 16:56:00 UTC, Iridium 33 (97-051C) collided in orbit with the defunct Russian Kosmos 2251 satellite (93-036A). The...
3 comments:
Wednesday, 28 January 2009

Observed the flying toolbag

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This evening it was clear. Besides photographing the passes of Lacrosse 4 (00-047A) and the NOSS 3-1 du o (01-040A & C), I watched a ni...