Nightscapes - Satellites
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.
Mars, Stars and the ISS (March 30, 2019)
The ISS (Space Station) flies past the Pleiades star cluster, with reddish Mars below, and the larger Hyades star cluster at left with the reddish star Aldebaran. This was March 30, 2019, looking west into the evening twilight sky. The ISS was rising out of the west and twilight glow, climbing up the frame here. The sky gradient is from twilight and the Zodiacal Light in the west. Canadian astronaut David St. Jacques was on board at this time in early 2019. This is a stack of 3 x 3 minute tracked exposures for the background to smooth noise, mean combined, plus the single 3-minute exposure with the ISS, layered in with Lighten blend mode, all at f/3.5 with the Sigma 50mm lens and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 200. High haze and clouds added the star glows. though I also added an Orton effect layer to boost the star glow effect. I used the app GoSatWatch to preview the path of the ISS and plan the framing and timing.
ISS Pass in the Blue Hour Twilight
A passage of the International Space Station high across the north in the late blue hour of twilight, with the stars appearing, though the ISS outshines them all. This was the 5:17 pm pass on December 6, 2018 from southern Alberta, and taken with a fixed camera on a tripod, so the stars are trailing slightly as the rotate about Polaris at lower centre. The view is looking north though the fish-eye lens takes in much of the sky. The Big Dipper skims low across the north at botton. On board was Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques on his third day in space of a 6-month mission. This is a stack of 21 10-second exposures at f/3.5 with the Sigma 8mm lens and Canon 6D MkII at ISO 400. The one-second interval between exposures adds the gaps.
Gazing skyward at a passage of the International Space Station as it flies from west to east (right to left) and passes into the shadow of the Earth at top left and fades out as it experiences sunset. This was December 5, 2018, two days after the arrival of Expedition 58 with Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques for a 6-month stay. I posed for two of the frames. This pass of the ISS started at 6:17 p.m. MST and was mostly sunlit but the late hour, while providing a dark sky background, meant that the ISS was going to go into our planet’s shadow and enter the night side of the planet. The view is looking south, with west to the right and east to the left. The ISS passed almost directly overhead, crossing the Milky Way. Mars is the bright object above my head. This is a stack of 4 x 2-minute tracked exposures at ISO 1600 for the sky and ISS path to keep the stars as pinpoint, and two untracked 1-minute exposures at ISO 3200 for the ground to minimize blurring, masked and blended in. All with the Sigma 8mm fish-eye lens at f/3.5 and Canon 6D MkII on the Star Adventurer Mini tracker.
Looking Up at a Canadian in Space
One Canadian on Earth gazing skyward at another Canadian in space! Here I am looking skyward at the passage of the International Space Station, with Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques newly on board, having arrived with his fellow Expedition 58 crew members the day before on a Soyuz rocket. The ISS here appears in a set of time exposures as a streak across the sky, with the streak broken as it went in and out of clouds and with gaps from the one second interval between exposures. That gap also adds the mottled or herringbone effect to the moving clouds. The stars (and Mars to the south) are all slightly trailed as well. The timing of this passage early in the evening meant that the entire pass of the ISS was visible and illuminated by sunlight. The ISS was still in daylight. Any later and the ISS would have faded out at some point along its path as it entered Earth’s shadow and went into night. This view is looking south but the ISS passed just north of overhead. West is to the right, so the ISS passed from right to left in this scene and is flying away at left. This is a stack of twenty 10-second exposures at 1-second intervals, with the Sigma 8mm fish-eye lens at f/3.5 and Canon 6D Mark II at ISO 800, taken on a pass beginning at 5:35 p.m. MST on December 4, 2018. Stacked in Photoshop with Maximum stack mode, with a final shot with me in frame layered and masked in. Taken from home in southern Alberta.
STEVE Aurora over Bow Lake with the ISS
This is a rare appearance of the unusual STEVE auroral arc on the night of July 16-17, 2018, with a relatively low Kp Index of only 2 to 3. While the auroral arc was visible the ISS made a bright pass heading east. This is a blend of a single 15-second exposure for the sky and ground, with seven 15-second exposures for the ISS, but masked to reveal just the ISS trail and its reflection in the water. The ISS shots were taken at 3-second intervals, thus the gaps. All with the Sigma 20mm Art lens at f/2 and Nikon D750 at ISO 6400. Taken from Bow Lake, Banff National Park, Alberta.
A Busy Sky – Mars, Meteor, Milky Way and Iridiums!
A busy sky with bright red Mars rising east of the Milky Way, while a pair of Iridium satellites flare briefly as they travel in unison up along the Milky Way from south to north. Meanwhile, about 20 minutes later a very bright meteor flared and produced a lasting train of “smoke”, seen at left and composited in from two later frames – but with it located where it appeared, above Mars. But to be clear — the meteor did not appear at the same time as the Iridiums. Nevertheless, this captures the fact that there were a lot of satellites and meteors this night, on a very clear though short summer night. It was a busy sky! The Iridium trails come from 5 exposures masked and layered onto a single base image of the sky, to minimize star trailing. I say they are Iridiums as they have all the hallmark of such, but no Iridium flares were predicted for this time and position, so they could be another pair of satellites. But they do seem like Iridiums and these will be among the last such flares, as by year end the first generation of flaring Iridiums will have been de-orbited, replaced by a new style of satellite whose design does not produce flares. So “Flare-well” Iridiums! Each exposure was 30 seconds at f/2.8 with the Sigma 24mm Art lens and the Nikon D750 at ISO 3200. They were taken as part of a 200-frame time-lapse. Taken from home in Alberta on July 9-10, 2018 as part of some technique testing.