Tuesday 17 March 2009

Magnificent view of Shuttle and ISS just before docking!

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 moving as a very close pair. The pass was around 19:10 UTC at 25 degrees altitude.

It was a beautiful sight, as the pair rose in the southwest and then majestically sailed past Sirius. Here's a picture:


(click image to enlarge)


The Shuttle is the object slightly fainter and lower in the sky. Movement is from right to left. Here's a second picture:

(click image to enlarge)

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

this is so cool. I love your pictures. Awesome Blog

Anonymous said...

Hoi Marco,

Mooie foto's! Mag ik ze ook plaatsen op m'n website (astroblogs, je kent die wel)? Uiteraard met bronvermelding.

Grz,

Adrianus

SatTrackCam Leiden said...

Dag Adrianus,

Dat is okay!

Anonymous said...

Het astroblogje staat er hoor:
http://www.astroblogs.nl/2009/03/18/het-duo-iss-discovery-net-voor-de-koppeling/

Erwin said...

Observed the same beautifull sight see here.
How many seconds exposure time did you use? I think the reason for the faintness of the shuttle on my picture is because of the long exposere/ISO speed.

Erwin said...

pasted the wrong link :(
Here's the correct one:

http://blog.erwinwendy.nl/2009/03/17/space-station-iss-and-sts-119-2-hours-before-docking/

SatTrackCam Leiden said...

Hi Erwin,

The difference is due to your lower ISO setting, higher diafragma, and smaller lens aperture. The exposure time itself (10.05 seconds in my case) isn't that much of a factor.

Erwin said...

What where the settings fot your picture?
If I had the same exposure time (1 minute 33 seconds) and a higher ISO (say ISO 800 as I can see you used in some of your pictures), I probably get totaly washed out shots.

SatTrackCam Leiden said...

EF 50/2.5 macro lens @ F2.8, 800 ISO, 10s exposure