Below is one of the pictures that I have shot of the International Space Station as it regularly passes overhead here in Connecticut. Many times as it has come over the horizon and into view, I have always wondered if any of the astronauts were up there taking pictures of us on the ground. They sure have! We might be in darkness most of the time we see it, but the … [Read more...]
M33 autumn image gets some serious television time
It was a surprise this morning when I got into work and saw Rachel Frank, one of our FOXCT meteorolgists showing my colorful autumn image of M33 the Triangulum Galaxy during her weather segment. Nobody on the morning show knew what a M33 was, never mind it was in the constellation of Trianglulum. Without missing a beat, Rachel explained what it was, and who took the image. Some … [Read more...]
International Space Station fly over image from May 14, 2010
I managed to get out on Friday night and take a shot at imaging the ISS again as it flew close (within 100 miles) to my town of Marlborough, Connecticut. Right on time it appeared in the Northwest as a dim reddish star. Getting brighter by the second the ISS brightened to a magnitude of -3.2 as it passed to the south of my location basically passing over New York … [Read more...]
Witness to a top secret Air Force spaceplane launch
Good timing, great weather, and luck permitted me not only to see STS-131 land at Kennedy Space Center, but to see an Air Force "Top Secret" rocket launch on April 22nd. A unmanned reusable spaceplane was launched into orbit aboard an 196 foot tall Atlas 5 rocket at 7:52pm under perfect launch conditions. Built by Boeing Phantom Works, the 29 foot long X-37B spacecraft … [Read more...]
Space Shuttle landing in Florida
Here some pictures that I took of STS-131 landing at Kennedy Space Center yesterday. It was taken from Space Park in Titusville, Florida. Space Park is directly across from the runway where the shuttle lands. This shot was the best one out of about 30 images that I captured as the shuttle landed. Taken from seven miles away through my Vixen refractor and a 2x and a … [Read more...]
CtCameraEye captures the Space Shuttle Landing
Hello All! I am writing this quick posting from Titusville, Fl. A little detour today from vacation plans put me within seven miles of STS-131 landing this morning at 9:08am. This images are still in the camera and I plan on getting them up ASAP. If not tonight, tomorrow for sure! It was quite a site from Space Park. The closest you can get without being "on property". Be … [Read more...]
Mercury and Venus between the clouds
Tonight was my last attempt to get a shot of Venus and Mercury together. I had tried for several nights but the weather did not cooperate with me. It looked pretty good tonight so I thought I would give it one last chance. As in previous nights it was cloudy at my observing location. Tonight was no different but what did I see on the horizon? Is that a break in the clouds? … [Read more...]
Picture of the International Space Station as it passes over Connecticut
Several weeks ago I successfully shot video of the International Space Station as it passed to the southwest of Connecticut. Tonight the ISS was going right over my house in Marlborough at 6:08 PM. I decided to try to make a still photograph of it with my NIkon camera. Passing over at a -3.5 magnitude it was an easy target to find in my telescope and camera viewfinder. I imaged … [Read more...]
Sidewalk Astronomy 52 years ago
A friend in Washington D.C. mailed me a stack of photos of the early days of space exploration in the United States. They are very interesting to see how we looked at space in the 1950's and 1960's. I will start off this "Space retrospective" series that I will post here intermittently, with two photographs of "Sidewalk Astronomers" looking for the Russian satellite Sputnik … [Read more...]
Video Capture of the International Space Station
The conditions were just about perfect this morning to try capturing the ISS in video mode on the Nikon D300s. I set up in one of my dark sky locations in Marlborough, Ct. that had a good WSW view of where the ISS was going to appear at 6:07 am. The sky was starting to brighten just enough to give some good contrast against the ISS at magnitude -2.5 as the Heavens Above … [Read more...]