Iridium flare

[Raghu]

All I knew was that it was going to happen at 18:47:18, at 5 degress North at an altitude of 56 degrees. How long would it last, I did not know. So, I took a guess and set the camera at f/8 and 15 seconds, and clicked it just two seconds earlier to the event and watched with bated breath.

Seconds looked like minutes, and there was no sign. From previous experience of watching satellites, I though I would see a bright, moving starlike object and kept scouring the sky. Then it appeared suddenly, more like a single spark of a firework, but beautiful and shining very bright, looking almost stationary to the naked eye. Must have lasted only a few seconds - at the most, probably 5 seconds. I was worried the 15 seconds exposure would have whitewashed the picture, but to my surprise, though in a very small area of the frame, I got a neat one!

[catalex54]

Beautiful experience of the skies, the managing for the expectation was higher than it looks in the picture.

[geoper2]

Raghu wow once again you inspire me and surprise me. What i really want to know is where did you get this accurate information?? Where did you find out when exactly it would happen? I want to start observing the stars and try night sky photography. Great job i hope you can provide me with a link or something

[jjdog2]

Nice work Raghu.

jj

[Raghu]

Thank you, Jim and Alex, for appreciating the work involved.

Geoper2, thanks to you too. I am glad you like this shot. I get the satellite information from heavens-above.com. You need to give your location, and the site churns out the list of satellites passing over your head! It gives accurate info like tie, altitude, direction, magnitude of brightness, etc. That is the easier part.

The harder one, of course, is setting up the camera, setting the correct exposure and time, and waiting for the event to happen. Weather should cooperate too. A large patch of cloud would render all your efforts waste. Best of luck! I hope to see your attempts.

[geoper2]

Ah thats great thanks for the info. Now that summer is coming once again i will certainly try night sky photography.