Tried to get an image of Elon Musk's Tesla on Saturday night. It was already 1.2m km away and magnitude 17.7. Also moving fast enough that in a 5 min exposure it was moving by 10-15 pixels or so. Hence was hard to capture it as longer exposures simply resulted in a longer path (the image was Elongated ) rather than a brighter target. But the animation I think helps to make it clear it's there (slightly!) above all the noise!
Tried to get an image of Elon Musk's Tesla on Saturday night. It was already 1.2m km away and magnitude 17.7. Also moving fast enough that in a 5 min exposure it was moving by 10-15 pixels or so. Hence was hard to capture it as longer exposures simply resulted in a longer path (the image was Elongated ) rather than a brighter target. But the animation I think helps to make it clear it's there (slightly!) above all the noise!
Nice one Paul,
I wondered how long it would be before it appeared here.
Your image has it well above the noise level. Some would kill to have such a S/N ratio.
It's far from a deep space object yet though.
Another asteroider technique is to stack images on the object, ie one image of the object and the stars trailed.
This builds up the signal over the background.
Tried to get an image of Elon Musk's Tesla on Saturday night. It was already 1.2m km away and magnitude 17.7. Also moving fast enough that in a 5 min exposure it was moving by 10-15 pixels or so. Hence was hard to capture it as longer exposures simply resulted in a longer path (the image was Elongated ) rather than a brighter target. But the animation I think helps to make it clear it's there (slightly!) above all the noise!
Now thats neat !
Never thought I'd be looking at an image of a NEO that was in fact a terrestrial automobile on IIS.
I wonder if he will put the next one on the moon and have it remotely controlled and solar charged - every week after recharging he can take it for a spin !
Very cool Paul and a unique memory of this odd piece of space junk. I doubt I will hear anything stranger than launching a care into space again. Though I could be pleasantly surprised.
) rather than a brighter target. But the animation I think helps to make it clear it's there (slightly!) above all the noise!
