Above is an image captured with my camcorder at 6:01:05 PM EST, using maximum (20x optical) zoom, showing the International Space Station and the nearby Space Shuttle, which had just undocked from the ISS 51 minutes earlier. I assume the larger blob is the ISS, the smaller one the Shuttle. Video to follow later.
Below is a 15-second exposure from my digital camera, taken between between 6:02:11 and 6:02:26, showing the Shuttle and ISS — indistinguishible from one another in this zoomed-out view — flying over the Basilica and the Golden Dome as seen from across St. Mary’s Lake on Notre Dame’s campus:
As you can see, the Dome is rather badly overexposed, but I kinda like it — I think it gives the photo a sort of mythic Notre Dame feel. :)
Here’s another still photo, this one much more zoomed in (approximately 7x rather than 1x) and thus showing two distinct lines, one for the ISS and one for the Shuttle:
The movement shown in the displayed close-up took place between 6:02:54 and maybe 6:02:57 or so. The obstructions are tree branches (specifically, branches of the tree at left in the photo of the Dome).
After the jump, another photo through tree branches of the Shuttle and ISS, visible as separate objects, fading away into invisibility as they reach the edge of the Earth’s shadow. [UPDATE: Also after the jump, a video!]
That 15-second exposure goes from 6:03:40 and 6:03:55.
UPDATE: Here my video of the Shuttle and ISS. I apologize for the shaky camerawork; it was very hard to keep the fast-moving tandem in the field of view while zoomed in at 20x, and thus, I’m constantly following them around and shaking the camera in the process. Between 0:19 and 0:22, you can see how fast (and in what direction) they were actually moving. Anyway…
December 19th, 2006 at 8:16:13 pm
Great picture, though your topic heading is a bit scary, especially when talking about the shuttle.
Weather, Natural Disasters, Space & Astronomy.
Two words too close…
December 19th, 2006 at 8:22:16 pm
Yeah… I desperately need to split this category up. I just keep putting it off because it will involve so much recategorization of so many old posts over the last 4 1/2 years of blogging. But clearly Weather & Natural Disasters should be its own category (with subcategories such as Hurricanes, Earthquakes, etc.) and Space & Astronomy should be its own category (with subcategories such as Auroras, Spaceflight, etc.). They will both be grouped under the meta-category Science & Technology (as “Weather, Natural Disasters, Space & Astronomy” currently is), but they should not be linked beyond that. Someday…
December 19th, 2006 at 9:12:52 pm
Cool pics.
December 20th, 2006 at 1:05:42 am
Excellent work. Thanks.
“…clearly Weather & Natural Disasters should be its own category (with subcategories such as Hurricanes, Earthquakes, etc.) and Space & Astronomy should be its own category (with subcategories such as Auroras, Spaceflight, etc.).”
Presumably the ETA of the Bigass Asteroid, once Ascertained, will become the first categorical Crossover. :| Also, if Tardily calculated, possibly the Last. ;>
December 20th, 2006 at 7:28:26 am
Very cool pics-thanks for sharing~
December 20th, 2006 at 10:46:20 am
I took my mom outside to see the space station and shuttle. Incidentally, I’ll taker her outside again tonight. Tonight, we can see them apart with the naked eye. Apparenltly, the space shuttle will be five minutes ahead of the space station.
Anyway, thanks for giving us the heads up! We had fun trying to figure out which way south was (her house is on a windy road).
December 20th, 2006 at 10:53:23 am
You’re welcome! I’m thrilled that people actually did this — I thought I was the only reader of my blog who cared. :)
Tonight’s visible passes are 6:16:34 to 6:20:59 (Shuttle) and 6:21:27 to 6:25:52 (ISS). It’s conceivable that someone with a sufficiently wide-angle lens (it would basically have to be a fisheye) could get a picture at around 6:20:50 of the Shuttle in the northeastern sky and the ISS in the west-southwest. (The ISS would be pretty dim and low on the horizon, though.)