ISS + Atlantis undocked, passing Adelaide.

[deanm (Dean)]

I chanced a 'Sucker Hole' tonight - and I was blown away: as the ISS plus undocked Shuttle rose above the horizon, I didn't understand what the very clearly-visible, semi-circular halo of luminescence around, and travelling with, the ISS could possibly be.

Then it clicked: 50 minutes before, the Shuttle had performed an inspection fly-around - the exhaust gases from the reaction control system (RCS) were still present surrounding the ISS because of the short elapsed interval and the absence of any dispersive atmospheric forces.

Completely unexpected (for me!) and quite an amazing visual experience.

These 2.5 second DSLR exposures (of 60-odd) only show the RCS 'halo' as a fuzz at the tail end of the ISS trails. Horribly noisy pics, but I had cranked up ISO and exposure time with the intent of shooting through cloud.

Now, if NASA could just do this one more time....!

Dean

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Pretty cool Dean

I also notice a white coloured cloud at the rear of the ISS in each shot

[michaellxv (Michael)]

Nice shots Dean. I noticed the plume at the back of the ISS too. Very glad I got to see that last appearance together.

[deanm (Dean)]

Thanks for your comments, chaps: I just wish Von Tom could have been here to get some shots of rego numbers - he's that good!!

Note that the last two shots posted feature the Southern Cross, top left.

Noice!

Dean

[deanm (Dean)]

And a quick sequence (where did that missing frame go...?!!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qeb2ix6HdpA