Reply to post: Imaged on its way back out

ESA's Solar Orbiter sails safely past Earth despite orbiting debris concerns

Bill Gray

Imaged on its way back out

An amateur astronomer in the western US imaged the spacecraft shortly after perigee, at a distance of about 17000 km. The following is available even to F__ebook refuseniks (including me).

https://www.facebook.com/1407672426/videos/497107024766208/

Of course, all you get is a streak moving among the stars. (Or, when the telescope is tracking the spacecraft's motion, a solid dot and the stars become moving streaks. This image takes the first approach.)

Should note that amateurs (and some professionals) get images of spacecraft leaving the earth/moon system fairly regularly. (Exceptions usually involve the object's departure route putting it close to the sun in the sky.) It's the only tracking data we have for the boosters, and can come in handy when the asteroid surveys are wondering if they've found a rock or just some old bit of space junk.

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