SatTrackCam Leiden (b)log

THE SECRET SPIES IN THE SKY - Imagery, Data Analysis, and Discussions relating to Military Space

SatTrackCam Leiden (Cospar 4353) is a satellite tracking station located at Leiden, the Netherlands. The tracking focus is on classified objects - i.e. "spy satellites". With a camera, accurate positional measurements on satellites of interest are obtained in order to determine their orbits. Orbital behaviour is analysed. This blog analyses Missile tests too.

Monday, 25 May 2009

Clear nights, and the NOSS 3-4 rocket brightness behaviour

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A series of clear nights the past week, allowing a series of observations of the STSS-ATRR rocket (09-023B) and two Keyholes, USA 186 (05-...
1 comment:
Wednesday, 20 May 2009

Flare evening

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Yesterday evening 19-20 May was an evening of unpredicted flares. It started with the International Space Station (ISS) in deep twilight. ...
Monday, 18 May 2009

STSS-ATRR rocket again

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Yesterday evening it cleared, and I observed the STSS-ATRR (09-023A) through the ETX-70, and photographically also its rocket (09-023B). I...
Tuesday, 12 May 2009

STSS-ATRR and it's rocket, and Progress-M66 (with photographs)

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On May 5, the US military launched a Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg AFB with the new experimental STSS-ATRR - which stands for Space Trac...
Thursday, 9 April 2009

The Misty 2 decoy, USA 129, IGS 1B and more

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Yesterday evening was a very clear evening. A bright moon lit the sky though. Several objects were imaged. Two Keyhole satellites were captu...
Saturday, 4 April 2009

Keyhole USA 161 flaring

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On the night of April 1-2, the Keyhole optical satellite USA 161 (01-044A) flared brightly to mag. -2 just after shadow exit. I shot a whol...
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...
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About the Author

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SatTrackCam Leiden
Dutch, 55, Lecturer in optical Space Situational Awareness at Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Aerospace Engineering, the Netherlands. Former stone age archaeologist (PhD). Also a meteoriticist and asteroid discoverer.
Asteroid (183294) Langbroek was named after me. In 2012, I received the Dr. J. van der Bilt Prize of the Royal Dutch Astronomy Association (KNVWS) for my work on meteors, asteroids and satellites.Opinions expressed on this blog are entirely my own, not those of my employer.
You can find me on Twitter via @Marco_Langbroek and at BlueSky as @marcolangbroek.bsky.social

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