Nightscapes - Satellites
Passage of the BlueWalker 3 Satellite (Nov 29, 2022)
The passage of the BlueWalker 3 satellite on November 29, 2022. This is the prototype of another set of reflective communications satellites to be launched into low Earth orbit. It appears here as a faint streak, with a second slightly brighter streak behind -- this might have been the actual satellite, and the main streaks were some debris component? To the naked eye it appeared about magnitude +1 at best but is fainter here as it was moving rapidly so did not record as very bright. The Moon is the brightest object, surrounded by a faint halo on this hazy night, with Jupiter at left. The Summer Triangle stars are at right. Cassiopeia is at upper left. This is a stack of two 30-second exposures at f/2.8 with the TTArtisan 11mm lens on the Canon R6 at ISO 400.
ET Cluster with Accumulated Satellite Trails
This is NGC 457, the ET or Owl Cluster in Cassiopeia, in a stack of images showing the total number of satellite trails recorded over the 36 minutes of total expposure time this night. By coincidence, the trails frame the main subject, but the number of satellites now above us make it nearly impossible to take a long exposure image, certainly at the start or end of a night, without recording at least one satellite trail, if not more, per image. Some of the parallel streaks could be Starlink satellites. This was from 51° north on a mid-October night, between 8:18 pm and 8:52 pm MDT. This is a stack of 12 x 3-minute exposures, stacked to add together, rather than average out, the trails. This was with the Starfield Géar90 apo refractor at f/4.8 with its Reducer/Flattener, and Canon Ra at ISO 1600.
The International Space Station (ISS) flying away to the east over the moonlit badlands formations at Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, on July 12, 2022, just before local midnight. The image frames the stars of Cassiopeia (upper left), Perseus (at left), Andromeda (centre) and Pegasus (at right). A couple of other fainter satellites are also in the image. Light from the almost Full Moon illuminates the sky blue and foreground a warm colour. This is a single 20-second exposure with the Canon RF15-35mm lens at 23mm and f/4 and Canon Ra at ISO 400.
The Crowded Sky — All-Night Satellites (June 1-2, 2022)
This is a blend of exposures showing all the satellites (and a few aircraft) recorded by the camera on a late spring night (June 1-2, 2022) from latitude 51° North, from where and when satellites are illuminated all night long and can be seen all through the short night. This is looking almost due south. This illustrates the very crowded sky above us now. And likely none of these are SpaceX Starlink satellites, as most of those are now below naked-eye brightness when in their final orbits. The satellites recorded here would have mostly been visible to the naked-eye. Most of the brightest satellites are also polar-orbiting, in north-south paths here. The Space Station did not make any passes this night. A few trails (the colourful ones, made of lots of dots) are from aircraft. And some very short streaks are meteors, or perhaps flaring satellites. The inset shows a blow up of the central area, showing even more satellites, the fainter ones, visible at that greater scale. The field of view of the main image is 120° wide. This is a stack of 515 exposures taken over 3 hours 15 minutes from 11:23 pm to 2:38 am MDT on June 1-2, 2022, each 20 seconds long with the 11mm TTArtisan full-frame fish-eye lens at f/2.8 and the Canon R5 at ISOs from 1600 to 6400, shifted through the night. The camera was on a star tracker, the Star Adventurer Mini, to follow the sky and keep the stars more or less stationary. A slight drift in the tracking motion has made the stars trail slightly. But having the tracker follow the sky means the ground was blurred, as well as sky content such as clouds and light pollution glows. Thus the streaks in the sky. The ground image comes from a single exposure in the middle of the sequence, layered in and masked. Gaps in the satellite trails are from the 1-second interval between exposures. Stacked with the now-discontinued Advanced Stacker Plus actions.
Starlink Satellite Train (May 16, 2022)
A passage of a Starlink satellite train (in this case of Starlink set G4-15) on May 16, 2022. The exposure was 3 seconds, and so the satellites' motion has blurred the individual satellites in the string into a longer streak. But this is some 50 satellites traveling in a line, as they appeared about 3 days after launch. The night before they were bunched closer together and were much brighter. Here they were about magnitude 3. They were magnitude 1 the night before. They appear here below Leo, heading toward Spica at far left. A few other short streaks from other satellites are also visible. The Moon was just rising and lighting the sky at this time. This is a single exposure with the Canon RF15-35mm lens at f/2.8 and 15mm and EOS Ra at ISO 6400. It is part of a short time-lapse set.
Trail of the Inspiration 4 Spacecraft
The SpaceX Inspiration 4 spacecraft traveling across the moonlit sky on September 16, 2021. This was the first all-civilian crew of astronauts (four) to travel into orbit. They had launched the day before on September 15. The spacecraft appears as a series of streaks traveling from low in the SW (at right of centre here) to higher in the SE (at left), flying above the bright Moon, and Jupiter to the left of the Moon. Saturn is the brightest object just above the Moon. The path is of the spacecraft is broken into dashes by stacking of several 30-second exposures. I shot this from home in southern Alberta with the Canon 15-35mm lens at f/2.8 on the Canon R6 at 400.
Space Station Pass in Moonlight
An overhead pass of the International Space Station on May 18, 2021, with the 6-day waxing Moon providing the illumination. The Milky Way in Cygnus runs diagonally across the east at left, with Scorpius rising in the southeast at right. This is a stack of 4 x 1-minute tracked exposures at f/2.8, and ISO 800 with the Canon EOS Ra. I did not fill in the gaps created by the 1 second interval between exposures. The ground is masked to come from one of the exposures, the first, to minimize blurring from the star tracker motion following the sky. Taken from home as part of testing the TTArtisan 11mm fish-eye lens.
Starlink 27 Train over Dinosaur Park
This is a train of closely-spaced Starlink satellites moving to the east over the moonlit landscape of Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta. This was on May 15, 2021 at 11:38 p.m. MDT. This group of satellites had been launched from Cape Canaveral earlier that day, at 4:56 p.m. MDT, so less than 7 hours earlier. They were very bright, as shown here, and they appeared as a line or streak in the sky, much as seen here, though the 15-second exposure has turned the array into an even longer streak. It was a remarkable sight, to see a satellite (or satellites in this case) appear not as a star but as a line. To the eye, you could not see them resolved into dots. They are here moving through Lyra below the star Vega. This launch included 52 Starlinks and two other "piggybacked" satellites: the Capella radar satellite, and the NOAA Tyvak-0130 remote sensing satellite. This was the 28th Starlink launch, but is called Starlink 27. This is a single 15-second exposure at ISO 3200 with the Canon R6 and 24mm Sigma Art lens adapted to the R6 and at f/2. Light from the setting waxing crescent Moon provided the illumination. High haze added the star glows.
Flaring Geosats with Labels (March 9, 2021)
A capture of a line of geosats (geostationary communication satellites) as they flare in brightness during one of their semi-annual "flare" seasons near the equinoxes. They are reflecting sunlight back to Earth, flaring from their normal dim telescopic brightness to briefly become bright enough to see with the unaided eye. They are brightest around the point directly opposite the Sun, here marked by the dim glow of the Gegenschein, another reflection of sunlight but off dust particles in the outer solar system beyond Earth's orbit. In this case, a number of the satellites are flaring to the brightness of Regulus, at first magnitude. While it looks like the satellites are moving, they are actually stationary with respect to the Earth (thus their name) and it is the sky that is moving. But the camera was tracking the sky, keeping the stars pinpoints, making the satellites stand out better as trails due to their motion with respect to the background stars during the 2.5 minutes of accumulated exposure time. This is a stack of 5 x 30-second tracked exposures, with a 24mm Sigma lens at f/2.2 and Nikon D750 at ISO 3200, with the camera on the Star Adventurer 2i tracker.
Flaring Geosats (March 9, 2021)
A capture of a line of geosats (geostationary communication satellites) as they flare in brightness during one of their semi-annual "flare" seasons near the equinoxes. They are reflecting sunlight back to Earth, flaring from their normal dim telescopic brightness to briefly become bright enough to see with the unaided eye. They are brightest around the point directly opposite the Sun, here marked by the dim glow of the Gegenschein, another reflection of sunlight but off dust particles in the outer solar system beyond Earth's orbit. In this case, a number of the satellites are flaring to the brightness of Regulus, at first magnitude. While it looks like the satellites are moving, they are actually stationary with respect to the Earth (thus their name) and it is the sky that is moving. But the camera was tracking the sky, keeping the stars pinpoints, making the satellites stand out better as trails due to their motion with respect to the background stars during the 2.5 minutes of accumulated exposure time. This is a stack of 5 x 30-second tracked exposures, with a 24mm Sigma lens at f/2.2 and Nikon D750 at ISO 3200, with the camera on the Star Adventurer 2i tracker.
Flaring Geosats with Labels (March 7, 2021)
A capture of a line of geosats (geostationary communication satellites) as they flare in brightness during one of their semi-annual "flare" seasons near the equinoxes. They are reflecting sunlight back to Earth, flaring from their normal dim telescopic brightness to briefly become bright enough to see with the unaided eye. They are brightest around the point directly opposite the Sun, here marked by the dim glow of the Gegenschein, another reflection of sunlight but off dust particles in the outer solar system beyond Earth's orbit. While it looks like the satellites are moving, they are actually stationary with respect to the Earth (thus their name) and it is the sky that is moving. But the camera was tracking the sky, keeping the stars pinpoints, making the satellites stand out better as trails due to their motion with respect to the background stars during the 3.5 minutes of accumulated exposure time. This is a stack of 7 x 30-second tracked exposures, with a 20mm Sigma lens at f/2.8 and Nikon D750 at ISO 3200, with the camera on the Star Adventurer 2i tracker.
Flaring Geosats (March 7, 2021)
A capture of a line of geosats (geostationary communication satellites) as they flare in brightness during one of their semi-annual "flare" seasons near the equinoxes. They are reflecting sunlight back to Earth, flaring from their normal dim telescopic brightness to briefly become bright enough to see with the unaided eye. They are brightest around the point directly opposite the Sun, here marked by the dim glow of the Gegenschein, another reflection of sunlight but off dust particles in the outer solar system beyond Earth's orbit. While it looks like the satellites are moving, they are actually stationary with respect to the Earth (thus their name) and it is the sky that is moving. But the camera was tracking the sky, keeping the stars pinpoints, making the satellites stand out better as trails due to their motion with respect to the background stars during the 3.5 minutes of accumulated exposure time. This is a stack of 7 x 30-second tracked exposures, with a 20mm Sigma lens at f/2.8 and Nikon D750 at ISO 3200, with the camera on the Star Adventurer 2i tracker.
A display of moondogs (technically known as paraselenae) on either side of the waxing crescent Moon with a lunar halo and upper tangent arc, all caused by ice crystals in the thin clouds moving in this night. As a bonus, the Space Station (ISS) appeared for a brief time rising out of the southeast but quickly disappearing into the Earth’s shadow as it approached the Moon. This is a stack of 3 exposures, all 20 seconds at f/2.8 with the 20mm Sigma lens and Nikon D750 at ISO 400, taken off the back deck from home.
Twice a year around the equinoxes geostationary satellites can flare in brightness when they are opposite the Sun and reflecting sunlight directly back to the viewer. This captures a string of geostationary satellites flaring near the opposition point, here below Mars this night, as Mars was just past opposition itself. This was October 17, 2020. The string of satellites appear as stationary points as they are fixed in the sky while the stars trail behind them, here in this stack of fifteen 30-second exposures. So the stars are moving from east to west but the geosats are not. Normally, geosats are very dim but when they flare they do get bright enough to see naked eye. While geosats orbit in the equatorial plane of Earth they appear below the Celestial Equator here (which is the projection of Earth’s equator onto the sky) due to parallax from me observing them from my latitude of 51° North. All exposures 30 seconds at f/2 and ISO 3200 with the Sigma 20mm lens and Nikon D750. Stacked in Photoshop. I framed the scene to capture more geosats to the south as the opposition point moved to due south but clouds moved in. This is looking southeast.
String of Flaring Geosats (Annotated)
Twice a year around the equinoxes geostationary satellites can flare in brightness when they are opposite the Sun and reflecting sunlight directly back to the viewer. This captures a string of geostationary satellites flaring near the opposition point, here below Mars this night, as Mars was just past opposition itself. This was October 17, 2020. The string of satellites appear as stationary points as they are fixed in the sky while the stars trail behind them, here in this stack of fifteen 30-second exposures. So the stars are moving from east to west but the geosats are not. Normally, geosats are very dim but when they flare they do get bright enough to see naked eye. While geosats orbit in the equatorial plane of Earth they appear below the Celestial Equator here (which is the projection of Earth’s equator onto the sky) due to parallax from me observing them from my latitude of 51° North. All exposures 30 seconds at f/2 and ISO 3200 with the Sigma 20mm lens and Nikon D750. Stacked in Photoshop. I framed the scene to capture more geosats to the south as the opposition point moved to due south but clouds moved in. This is looking southeast.
ISS Passage with Moon and Mars Rising
This Space Station flying away to the southeast as the Full Moon and Mars, in conjunction that night, rise together in the east. Taken from home October 2, 2020. This is a stack of 4 exposures for the ISS trail. I just had time to get the camera aimed and focused to grab the last part of the ISS passage. With the 24mm Sigma Art and Nikon D750.
Comet NEOWISE with Noctilucent Clouds and ISS (with Labels) (July 5, 2020)
Bright Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) rising in the northeast into the dawn sky on July 5, 2020, visible here as the small spot left of centre in the bright twilight. The northeast sky was also filled with noctilucent clouds (NLCs) that grew even more extensive this morning as the Sun angle below the horizon decreased and the NLCs lit up more to cover much of the sky. Venus is bright to the right, with the Pleiades star cluster above Venus. Capella is the bright star at top left. The comet is in a line directly down from Capella and just above the orange band of twilight. And as if that were not enough, the International Space Station flew over and away to the east in the scene here to the right of Venus, fading as it flew away. In all, this was one of the most amazing morning sky scenes I have seen. This was from home in Alberta at about 4:00 am MDT under very clear skies. The comet had passed perihelion only a few days eariler and was emerging here into the dawn sky. This is a panorama of 4 segments at 1.6 seconds each with the 50mm Sigma lens and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 100. Stitched with Adobe Camera Raw.
Comet NEOWISE with Noctilucent Clouds and ISS (July 5, 2020)
Bright Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) rising in the northeast into the dawn sky on July 5, 2020, visible here as the small spot left of centre in the bright twilight. The northeast sky was also filled with noctilucent clouds (NLCs) that grew even more extensive this morning as the Sun angle below the horizon decreased and the NLCs lit up more to cover much of the sky. Venus is bright to the right, with the Pleiades star cluster above Venus. Capella is the bright star at top left. The comet is in a line directly down from Capella and just above the orange band of twilight. And as if that were not enough, the International Space Station flew over and away to the east in the scene here to the right of Venus, fading as it flew away. In all, this was one of the most amazing morning sky scenes I have seen. This was from home in Alberta at about 4:00 am MDT under very clear skies. The comet had passed perihelion only a few days eariler and was emerging here into the dawn sky. This is a panorama of 4 segments at 1.6 seconds each with the 50mm Sigma lens and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 100. Stitched with Adobe Camera Raw.
A train of Starlinks on April 18, 2020, from the 5 batch launched a month earlier on March 18, 2020, in procession across the south in the darkening twilight, from home in Alberta. This is one frame from 100 shot this evening as they appeared in a long train over more than an hour. Many were magnitude +1. However, two nights later most appeared 2 t 3 magnitudes fainter and were hard to photograph and, except for a few, were not easy to pick out to the naked eye. An attempt to record a time-lapse on April 20 didn’t record many. This is a single 4-second exposure at f/2.2 with the 14mm Sigma Art lens and Nikon D750 at ISO 800.
Starlink Satellite Train in Twilight
A pass of the Starlink 4 train of satellites on March 26, 2020. This was the set launched February 17, 2020, not the then latest set of Starlink 5s launched March 18. So more than a month after launch they were still bright, at magnitude +1 or so. But note that at left they are dimming as they enter Earth’s shadow. They paraded across the sky over many minutes, each disappearing to the south. The stars are pinpoints but the satellites are streaks because of their motion over the length of the 13-second exposure. This view is looking southwest. Sirius is at right; Alphard in Hydra is at upper left. This is a single 13-second exposure at f/2 with the Sigma 24mm lens and Nikon D750 at ISO 1600.
StarLink1 Pass in Moonlight (January 5, 2020)
A pass of several of the second set (but called Starlink1) of Starlink satellites in the moonlight on January 5, 2020. This was the set launched in November 2019. Here 5 Starlinks out of a couple of dozen closely spaced satellites on this pass can be seen emerging from the clouds at right and heading southeast below the waxing gibbous Moon where they disappear into Earth’s shadow this night. This was from home in Alberta . This is a single exposure, not a stack or coomposite. with the Nikon D750 and Sigma 14mm lens for 2 seconds at f/1.8 and ISO 1600. This is one frame from a short time-lapse sequence.
The International Space Station (ISS) travels across the sky on December 2, 2019, beginning at 6:08 p.m. MST, from due west at left to due east at right, passing high in the north at centre in this 360° fish-eye view. At right, the ISS fades from view at it experiences sunset, dimming and reddening as it passes above the Pleiades. This was from home in Alberta with a waxing quarter Moon providing the illumination, with the Moon behind the camera due south and out of frame. This is looking due north. I am posing for a selfie with the Station. This is a stack of 7 x 40-second exposures for the ISS path, masked and blended in Lighten mode onto a single image for the sky, foreground, and me! That background layer was shot immediately after the last ISS frame. All with the 8mm Sigma fish-eye lens at f/3.5 and Canon EOS Ra at ISO 1000.
Milky Way and ISS over Waterton Lakes
The northern summer Milky Way setting over the mountains of Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada, with the Space Station rising at right, then fading into sunset, in a trail from the series of long exposures. This is from the Bison Compound viewpoint looking south and southwest, on September 21, 2019, in frames taken as part of a time-lapse. This is a stack of 8 images for the ground to smooth noise, one image from the set for the stars to minimize trailing, and a stack of 6 images masked to reveal just the ISS trail. The trail fades to deep red as the ISS travels into the Earth’s shadow as it rose here and experienced sunset at their altitude. A mild Orton glow effect added with Luminar Flex. Each exposure in the set was 30 seconds at ISO 4000 and f/2 with the Venus Optics 15mm lens and Sony a7III. Part of a 360-frame time-lapse.
A Last Iridium Flare (May 7, 2019)
One of the final Iridium flares, from Iridium 61, on May, 7, 2019, from home in Alberta, in the northeast at 11:21 pm MDT. This is a stack of several 30-second exposures with the 35mm lens and Canon 6D MkII.