HST and STS-125 double pass over Brisbane, 21May09

[StephenM]

Hi all,

After 322 mm rain in about 52 hrs here, we had a bit of clear sky today. This coincided with a great double pass of the now-repaired Hubble Space Telescope, followed about 24 minutes later by its repairers on board the Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-125)! I managed to capture both of them this evening rising in the region of Canis Major, using my K100D and 70-300mm lens set on 70mm. First time I've seen the shuttle unattached to the ISS, so that was a bit of a buzz :D.

Anyway, here is an image showing both of them. Thanks for looking!

Cheers,
Stephen

[peter_4059]

Good work to capture all three Stephen. Can't wait to see how the "new" Hubble performs.

Peter

[erick]

Now who wants this photographic challenge? Atlantis should occult the HST in about 8 hours time. It is 5000 nautical miles behind, but orbiting faster. It will pass between the Earth and HST with about 100 nautical miles separation.

[Spanrz]

Shuttle lands Friday night around 1am AUS EST, de-orbit burn is usually about an hour before. But because they are at 28 degrees, I don't know on the delay.
They will probably pass right over Brisbane again, whilst doing the descent.

I have figured now, the only way to capture a re-entry, a few hours after sunlight, is with a thermal camera.
Shuttle goes into shadows of the Earth.

Eric, do you know what the time limit is to see a satellite or ISS/Shuttle before it goes into shadows of the Earth?
Depending on height and all ETC ETC..
But I'm gauging on about approx 2 hours after sunset?

[StephenM]

Thanks Peter. Yes, the new WFPC3 etc should be great!



Hey, that would be a great thing to capture, Eric! I'll have to keep an eye on SpaceWeather and see if anyone there got something similar.



It sounds like the weather might delay the landing a few hours, so we may yet get to see the descent... Will have to wait and see.

Cheers,
Stephen