Post by flash on Jun 26, 2009 11:17:40 GMT -7
For the last two morning's I have went out chasing a Delta 2 rocket body that is decaying from orbit.I did see it on Thursday morning but clouds kept me from shooting a time exposure image of that past.
I had good skies this morning and was out at 3:30am MDT setting up my telescope to piggy back my camera for tracking.I was able to get an alignment on the first try.I guess being half a sleep is the key for getting a good alignment on my scope.I slewed the telescope and camera over to the position near Zeta Cephei which was near the position were the Delta 2 rocket body was forcasted to make to highest pass.
This Delta 2 rocket body is predicted to reenter in the next 24 to 48 hours.This is not a controlled reentry so it is hard to say where on the earth the rocket body will interface with the atmosphere.
Delta 2 rockets have had a habit in the pass of dumping it's propellant tanks back to earth.One having fallen back and landed in a some people's back yard ,a few years ago, here in Texas.
You can see a picture of this 500 pound tank at NASA orbital debris office website.
orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/reentry/reentry.html
For more information on the Delta 2 rocket can be found here.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_II_rocket
For those who may be interested you can fined several Delta rocket paper models at this website,just scroll down the page.
www.lansbergen.net/eng/index.htm
This Delta 2 rocket launched a new Global Positioning Satellite on March 24,2009.For more information on GPS system look here.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS
You can find a GPS paper model at this website.
www.basebandtech.com/free_sat_main.html
Because of the Delta rocket very low orbit,156Kmsx399kms at a distance from my location of 205 Kms, it was a shoosting across the sky at very fast pace.One could say it went screaming across our far west Texas skies this morning!Boy,it was moving fast.
Here is my image of this morning's Delta 2 rocket body pass.
Please do enjoy!
Thomas the Flash
I had good skies this morning and was out at 3:30am MDT setting up my telescope to piggy back my camera for tracking.I was able to get an alignment on the first try.I guess being half a sleep is the key for getting a good alignment on my scope.I slewed the telescope and camera over to the position near Zeta Cephei which was near the position were the Delta 2 rocket body was forcasted to make to highest pass.
This Delta 2 rocket body is predicted to reenter in the next 24 to 48 hours.This is not a controlled reentry so it is hard to say where on the earth the rocket body will interface with the atmosphere.
Delta 2 rockets have had a habit in the pass of dumping it's propellant tanks back to earth.One having fallen back and landed in a some people's back yard ,a few years ago, here in Texas.
You can see a picture of this 500 pound tank at NASA orbital debris office website.
orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/reentry/reentry.html
For more information on the Delta 2 rocket can be found here.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_II_rocket
For those who may be interested you can fined several Delta rocket paper models at this website,just scroll down the page.
www.lansbergen.net/eng/index.htm
This Delta 2 rocket launched a new Global Positioning Satellite on March 24,2009.For more information on GPS system look here.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS
You can find a GPS paper model at this website.
www.basebandtech.com/free_sat_main.html
Because of the Delta rocket very low orbit,156Kmsx399kms at a distance from my location of 205 Kms, it was a shoosting across the sky at very fast pace.One could say it went screaming across our far west Texas skies this morning!Boy,it was moving fast.
Here is my image of this morning's Delta 2 rocket body pass.
Please do enjoy!
Thomas the Flash