Satellite Observing

“Mind if I use that portable keyhole?” Stella in Rear Window

Updated Satellite Reductions

Current Overall Results

Good Intro Article (see my part at end)

Explanation of Site Codes

JUICE and its Rocket

JUICE AND ITS R/B IMAGED FROM PERTH

STARLINK-3415 (51472 / 22010S) passing target variable star TW Hydra.

TX HYA light curve with my obs details on left

Video of Reentry by Divyadarshan Purohit

Video sent to me by Divyardashan

Identification-of-Rocket-Reentry-of-2Apr2022Download

Geosynchronous Satellites approaching the Rosette Nebula

More Very High Orbit Objects

Spektr-R was a Russian scientific satellite with a 10 m (33 ft) radio telescope

Seen here 9 Feb 2022 at 345,000 km from telescope at apogee

2011-037A = NORAD 37755 = Spektr-R

Chang’e 3 Booster 10 Feb 2022 at 350,506 km:

2013-070B = NORAD 39459 = Chang’e 3 booster

Fuel Dump from CSG2 rocket (Falcon 9 Second Stage)

Might be the coolest thing I’ve seen yet! Amazing cloud in spiral form, with r/b in center slowly rotating as it made the cloud by dumping excess fuel before de-orbiting.

February 1 0:49 UT from Tulsa. Naked eye and 8 x 40 binoculars

James Webb Space Telescope and Booster

Images made Jan 5, 2022 using T5 at iTelescope.com (New Mexico)

If you have problems seeing images below, try spaceweather.com

James Webb Space Telescope imaged 2022 Jan 5 from New Mexico

JWST is the tiny dot in the middle of the GIF, 4 @ 60 sec images taken over 6 minutes. It appears to “jump” – this is another set of 4 images about 45 minutes later. Notice it has gotten dimmer as the angle between it, the sun, and New Mexico changed.

JWST Booster Rocket is much dimmer, so I had to magnify image, make it black on white and crop it. Red circles highlight its movement. Again, 4 @ 60sec from New Mexico, right after JWST and about 6 minutes of movement. After the “jump” is another set of 4 about 45 minutes later.

USA 167 came by during the second set of images of the booster. I circled in red where the JWST booster is – but it is very hard to make out at full image size. USA 167 is a declassified defunct spy satellite, that still orbits at about 23,000 miles up. JWST is already about 572,000 miles away, and the booster is about 652,000 miles up.

SOLAR ORBITER FLYBY SEEN VISUALLY (!) WITH BINOCULARS

Nov 27 2021, from my yard in downtown Tulsa

45167 20 010A 8336 E 20211127044745000 18 25 0157785+204220 19 S
45167 20 010A 8336 E 20211127044802000 17 25 0153115+202514 19 S
45167 20 010A 8336 E 20211127044851000 18 25 0149240+194149 19 S
45167 20 010A 8336 E 20211127045135000 17 25 0129734+181368 19 S
45167 20 010A 8336 E 20211127045303000 17 25 0122243+172710 19 S

Spaceweather.com had gifs of my imaging of the recently launched Lucy Spacecraft

Lucy Spacecraft

And the Lucy rocket on its gallery page

SATELLITE REDUCTIONS ARE OBSERVED TIME AND POSITION IN A STANDARD, MATHEMATICAL FORMAT CALLED IOD FORMAT.

Galaxy caught while imaging a satellite…

REDUCTIONS (IN IOD FORMAT) ARE POSTED FOR BOTH REMOTE IMAGING AND VISUAL OBSERVATIONS

A dim (and not yet matched to US Space Force catalog) orbiting object near a well known deep space object. I labored for years to see the Horsehead Nebula visually – now it shows up all the time on my images.

CURRENT RESULTS PAGE (password on request) INCLUDES THE LATEST ISON TARGET LIST, CVNAMES FILE AND MY PERSONAL CHECKLIST OF ALL ITEMS SEEN