Beginner Questions

[Nath2099]

Just a couple of things I've been wondering...

Is it possible to track and photograph things like satellites, Hubble, and ISS? Or are they just too quick?

Is it also possible for groups of people to collect and share data? It would be kind of cool to have a photo competition, all using the same data dump collected by multiple people, and see how different people process the same data, and the results.

[Nath2099]

Just as an aside, the first question came about after being at a mates place having a few beers. It must have been perfect conditions, the sun had just set and it was very clear. In the space of maybe half an hour, we must have seen a dozen odd objects, maybe up to 20*, flying over in various places across the sky. We assumed they were satellites, but were amazed at how many there were!

*There was a few beers involved... not real sure how many there were!

[acropolite (Phil)]

It is possible to track and image satellites, Meade goto telescopes for example can have ephemeris data loaded to allow tracking. Imaging of satellites is usually done with video, the individual frames are then stacked and processed to provide the best result. Regarding sharing of data it happens regularly on IIS, if you look back through past forum activity you will find images that are made from composite data i.e. from different sourcess.
http://www.heavens-above.com has predictions for satellites including iridium and ISS.

[MichaelSW (Michael)]

Nath 2099,

G'day.

A talk was given at recent Combined Astronomical Societies meeting (Southeast Queensland) on this topic. I didn't attend, but was given this link to a Facebook Group page when I asked a similar question elsewhere. https://www.facebook.com/login/?next...16771347231%2F

Also, have a look at the work of Thierry Legault at http://www.astrophoto.fr

Cheers.

[sil (Steve)]

Nathan, yes to all your questions. I shot the ISS hand held when it was visible (I'd used a program to tell me what it was going to be visible for me). I focused manually and rattled off shots in burst mode. It was hard to see detail on it, but comparing it in each shot it changed its angle and was obviously man made.

Satellites are often problematic to astrophotographers. Taking long exposures of the sky (10 sec or more) and its a good chance you'll find one or more in your shots as they make lines which stand out. Simple rule of thumb, if its blinking as it moves its a plane of some type (satellites dont have blinking lights). Satellites can be very bright as they reflect the light of the sun and move steadily in one direction, shooting stars are meteors burning up in the atmosphere and move very fast, they flare up and dim quickly.

Combining shots? yes. Nebulae are typically large in the sky but faint, by combining shots you can bring them out. BBCs Stargazing Live a few years back did this for viewers, asked people to take photos of the Orion constellation with whatever cameras they had, be it DSLR or mobile phone and sent them in to the show where they were all combined in order to reveal the amazing Orion Nebula.

Takes a bit of work but where there's a will there's a way.