It's been a busy few days. On Saturday night, I was just about to switch off the PC and head for bed, when I saw a Tweet about the impending launch of the latest NASA spacecraft. I don't usually pay much attention to launches, but since it was just 5 minutes away, thought I'd look in. After the launch, we saw live video from a camera mounted on the rocket itself, and I wondered how long it would take to get around to this part of the world, and whether or not it would be visible. I rapidly decided there'd be little hope of seeing anything visually, although it would be above the horizon, being tracked by antennae at the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex.
However, that did remind me that I needed to test a couple of 2nd hand lenses I'd acquired earlier in the day, so plonked one on the camera and headed outside. After 8 minutes and a few shots, I looked behind me and saw an obvious diffuse object near Orion, which I initially assumed was a small cloud ... or a comet ... and then I realised it could be the Mars-bound spacecraft. I hastily turned the camera round, took a quick snap - and was astonished at what was recorded - then got the exposure settings correct and the camera aimed properly, and started snapping away with an automatic interval timer. I kept going until about 5 minutes after I'd lost sight of it in binoculars. I wish I'd seen it sooner, or had just ignored my feeling that it wouldn't have been visible, and actually LOOKED for it! Still, what I recorded seems to have been unique, as there are so far no other reports of anyone else photographing it leaving Earth orbit. A couple of guys have photographed it much further out, but without the exhaust plume that was visible over Australia. Even NASA seems to have been interested in what I saw. Here's just one image, also showing three orbiting satellites passing by; click the image for more pics and timelapse videos.
However, that did remind me that I needed to test a couple of 2nd hand lenses I'd acquired earlier in the day, so plonked one on the camera and headed outside. After 8 minutes and a few shots, I looked behind me and saw an obvious diffuse object near Orion, which I initially assumed was a small cloud ... or a comet ... and then I realised it could be the Mars-bound spacecraft. I hastily turned the camera round, took a quick snap - and was astonished at what was recorded - then got the exposure settings correct and the camera aimed properly, and started snapping away with an automatic interval timer. I kept going until about 5 minutes after I'd lost sight of it in binoculars. I wish I'd seen it sooner, or had just ignored my feeling that it wouldn't have been visible, and actually LOOKED for it! Still, what I recorded seems to have been unique, as there are so far no other reports of anyone else photographing it leaving Earth orbit. A couple of guys have photographed it much further out, but without the exhaust plume that was visible over Australia. Even NASA seems to have been interested in what I saw. Here's just one image, also showing three orbiting satellites passing by; click the image for more pics and timelapse videos.
Mars Science Laboratory and Curiosity rover, heading for the Red Planet
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