Iridium Satellite

[Larry Bradford]

luisr wrote:

The problem with this is that the satellite is a moving target and if you cannot get the entire flare in a single shot you can't possible get a continous streak. Multiple shots can't possibly produce the effect due to the lag between shots no matter how short.

You could be right. However if you set the shutter to max time, and when it clicks off, press it again instantly, you may loose a fraction of a second. It might be worth a try is all that I am saying. Oh, yes you should have a fast memory card as well.

LarryB

[luisr]

You would get a noticeable gap in the streak. Have you ever seen an Iridium satellite flare? They move quite fast.

Just to compare, the stars leave noticeable streaks during the 15 second exposure, yet in the reduced picture above the streaks look almost like stationary stars. Compare that with the streak left by the satellite. You see exactly 15 seconds there because when I pressed the shutter the satellite was already visible and when the shot ended it was still visible after the flare.

[Raghu]

It has been a long wait for me. Finally, I could get one yesterday. I find that the short period of 8 seconds, the maximum that my camera allows, is a major limitation as the flares usually tend to last more than that. This was around 7.40 p.m. yesterday evening. I could show a bigger streak by cropping, but I wanted the trees to also be seen, so you can visualisethe approx size/brightness of the flare.