![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
This evening has been like, am I having a spectacularly good dream?
Saturn & Jupiter. Yep, slightly less than a pinky apart tonight. I must admit, that distance would make for a larger than usual moon. But I still think that half a pinky would make for a TOO SMALL moon. So maybe the 1 degree pinkies which that handy guide goes by are bigger pinkies than mine.
Today I found that my camera can take acceptably good photos of stars in the sky, when using these settings: Exposure to the max (2+); ISO ~800; focus to infinity; using tripod; using self-timer to prevent camera shake right after pressing the button; position the camera so that it is in the shade from the street light.
The above exposure setting gave me a shutter speed of 1 second.
3 of the photos I took with the above settings show something moving through the constellation of Cassiopeia. 1 of those also shows a second object moving in the edge of the photo.
I wondered if those moving objects were high-up airplanes, or if they might be satellites.
Starlink - dynamic 3D orbit display. I had no idea there were THAT many satellites moving all over the sky (not geo-stationary). That display ONLY shows the Starlink ones. Per Wikipedia, there are currently about 900 Starlink satellites in orbit, and they have plans for launching more than 40 thousand! OMG, it will be a maze of moving objects.
This page: in-the-sky.org : Satellite Observing Opportunities let me check which satellites were crossing through and near Cassiopeia at the time I took those 3 photos.
This one, SL-3 R/B is the closest match to my photos, though not an exact match. Mine's path went thru the 2 left stars, not thru the middle ones. But it was going in the right direction, and at about that time. So I'm not sure if the website's chart is off, or if my object was something else*.
There were also several other satellites passing by that general area within a few minutes of it; one of these might be the other moving object:
SL-14 R/B
OKEAN-O
PSLV R/B
SL-8 R/B
*The offset was due to me not having entered my exact latitude and longitude on that page. Once I entered more exact values, it shows SL-3 R/B's path as having gone through the same 2 left stars which I saw. So most likely my photos *do* show that satellite !
Later this evening I discovered my camera can even take up to 15-second long exposures! (I'd been thinking of maybe upgrading my camera, not even realizing it could do that!) So after finishing up my work for the day, I took many more photos.
I didn't realize it at the time, but I even got a good photo of the Pleiades.
Jupiter, Saturn, and my pinky (couldn't get them all in focus at the same time)
Orion behind branches:
Pleiades in upper left:
Saturn & Jupiter. Yep, slightly less than a pinky apart tonight. I must admit, that distance would make for a larger than usual moon. But I still think that half a pinky would make for a TOO SMALL moon. So maybe the 1 degree pinkies which that handy guide goes by are bigger pinkies than mine.
Today I found that my camera can take acceptably good photos of stars in the sky, when using these settings: Exposure to the max (2+); ISO ~800; focus to infinity; using tripod; using self-timer to prevent camera shake right after pressing the button; position the camera so that it is in the shade from the street light.
The above exposure setting gave me a shutter speed of 1 second.
3 of the photos I took with the above settings show something moving through the constellation of Cassiopeia. 1 of those also shows a second object moving in the edge of the photo.
I wondered if those moving objects were high-up airplanes, or if they might be satellites.
Starlink - dynamic 3D orbit display. I had no idea there were THAT many satellites moving all over the sky (not geo-stationary). That display ONLY shows the Starlink ones. Per Wikipedia, there are currently about 900 Starlink satellites in orbit, and they have plans for launching more than 40 thousand! OMG, it will be a maze of moving objects.
This page: in-the-sky.org : Satellite Observing Opportunities let me check which satellites were crossing through and near Cassiopeia at the time I took those 3 photos.
This one, SL-3 R/B is the closest match to my photos, though not an exact match. Mine's path went thru the 2 left stars, not thru the middle ones. But it was going in the right direction, and at about that time. So I'm not sure if the website's chart is off, or if my object was something else*.
There were also several other satellites passing by that general area within a few minutes of it; one of these might be the other moving object:
SL-14 R/B
OKEAN-O
PSLV R/B
SL-8 R/B
*The offset was due to me not having entered my exact latitude and longitude on that page. Once I entered more exact values, it shows SL-3 R/B's path as having gone through the same 2 left stars which I saw. So most likely my photos *do* show that satellite !
Later this evening I discovered my camera can even take up to 15-second long exposures! (I'd been thinking of maybe upgrading my camera, not even realizing it could do that!) So after finishing up my work for the day, I took many more photos.
I didn't realize it at the time, but I even got a good photo of the Pleiades.
Jupiter, Saturn, and my pinky (couldn't get them all in focus at the same time)
Orion behind branches:
Pleiades in upper left:
no subject
Date: 2020-12-16 01:05 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2020-12-16 06:20 am (UTC)From:I never noticed that uneven arc of rings around the top side of Orion before, part of which are supposed to be his bow.