** OCTOBER 14, 2005: IMAGES FROM MY TRIP TO CHINA TO OBSERVE THE FLYOVER OF SHENZHOU 6 AND ITS ROCKET BODY
Shenzhou 6 spacecraft passed over the Beijing, China area 3 days after launch. This image below shows the
track of Shenzhou 6 appearing out of the earth's shadow on the meridian and moving to the east. It is the
streak on the right side of the frame. Also recorded were two faint maxima of an old Russian rocket (1974-24J)
in the same frame
(located just below left center moving downward). Time was 5:45am Beijing Time October 14; view is toward the north
with the point of appearance of Shenzhou 6 at elevation 60, azimuth 358. The next morning I also observed both
from the roof of the Holiday Inn Downtown Beijing with just the unaided eye before sunrise (no photos shown).
The two frames below illustrate the movement in the sky over a 5 second interval. The pass occurrred in very strong twilight with just a few bright stars visible to the eye.
An Iridium flare occurred shortly before the Shenzhou 6 flyover and it passed through the constellation of Orion.
Both the DART spacecraft and MUBLCOM are visible to the left of center in the above image. Videotaped from Brenham, Texas at 0237UT, elevation 40, azimuth 40 range 680 st. mi. Video shot with 150mm Nikon lens, and Watec 903 video camera. An image intensifier was not used or the image of MUBLCOM would be more distinct. DART is estimated to be about 1 mile away from MUBLCOM. The image was taken 9 hours 10 minutes after launch of DART. A pictorial is shown below of what the two spacecraft should have looked like. MUBLCOM is the Multiple Beam Beyond Line-of-sight Communications satellite launched in 1999.
** OCTOBER 15, 2003: IMAGES FROM MY VIDEO OF ORBIT 7 FROM THE HISTORIC FLIGHT OF THE FIRST CHINESE ASTRONAUT
Satellite observing has long been an important avocation for
me since my first earth satellite observation in 1960 from San
Antonio, Texas. My mentor during that time was Fred Ball, Jr. a
professor of mathematics and San Antonio College. Since that time
I also maintain many other astronomical pursuits
that include
occultations,
eclipses, comets, and meteor showers. However, my interests in
satellite
observation have varied from tracking specific objects for fun, to
tracking for research purposes. Not only do I follow them from home,
but also when I am traveling on business and during vacation. I compile
magnitude records on some satellites in an effort to keep 'an eye'
on selected targets in space to see what they are doing now and how
they have been behaving in the past. Perhaps one reason why I enjoy
it is that so few others seem to focus on this field of observation.
It is quite a challenge to track small man-made objects down to even
less than one meter in diameter that appear at different times.
Over the years I have collected a number of examples of images of my
own coverage of fleeting aerospace events that effectively show what
you are missing if you are not a satellite watching enthusiast. As a
complement to optical and visual tracking, I use conventional and low
light level video techniques, as well as still cameras as necessary.
The observation of artificial earth satellites can prove to be
meaningful, educational, enriching and rewarding not only to adults
but also to children.
Up until the mid 1990's, the number of satellite trackers had been
limited to a small cadre of really serious observers
or analysts. The advent of freeware and Internet sites such as that
developed by the Belgian Working Group Satellites has focused
information on techniques of observation and provided instructional
aids and sources of data on orbital elements. More importantly,
a remarkable user friendly web site called Heavens-Above (see link
below) developed by Chris Peat has enabled the avocation of satellite
watching to become available to Internet users around the world.
Paul showing monks at an internet portal in Bangkok, Thailand (March 2003) how to access his satellite viewing web site
I would like to acknowledge the excellent software (QUICKSAT and HIFLY), developed by Mike McCants of Austin, Texas that has enabled most of the observations I have been able to make over the last 30 years. Appreciation is expressed to Ed Cannon and Jeff Hunt who made valuable suggestions regarding the format of this web site. I would like to apologize for not having configured the photos as thumbnails. In some parts of the site, I reference 5-digit numbers to identify the specific satellite. This is the catalog number from the USSTRATCOM catalog.
Enjoy the web pages!
IMAGES OF EARTH SATELLITES
MEASURING OPTICAL CHARACTERISTICS
USEFUL LINKS