-8 Iridium Flare. Credit: Kevin Jung
A satellite flare is an event caused by the reflective panels on satellites reflecting sunlight directly onto the Earth. A perfect example would be the flares caused by Iridium satellite constellation. The constellation operates 66 active satellites in orbit.
This amazing photo of a -8 Iridium satellite flare flashing in the night sky over the James C. Veen Observatory was captured by Kevin Jung in West Michigan.
“I always want to observe the International Space Station flying over when I can, so I am always checking for flyovers of the station and other satellites (usually from Heavens-Above.com). This time I noted not only a nice pass by the ISS, but also a -8 Iridium Flare about 45 minutes later.
So on the evening of May 10, 2009, a fellow member of our astronomy club went out to our observatory with me to see both events, and so I could photograph them.
Because I knew the coordinates of the flare predictions (altitude and azimuth) I was able to calculate where it would appear in the sky. I was able to position the camera so as to get part of our observatory in the shot, along with the sky where the flare was predicted to appear.
We had been using our club’s 17-inch dob, so it was out of it’s enclosure, and I arranged some red lights around it to light the area. My friend then stood near the telescope when it was getting close to the time for the flare. When we noticed the flare I tripped the shutter on my camera, and he pointed up to it and held still during the entire shot. I waited until the flare faded out before closing the shutter. Fortunately my calculations were correct, and the flare appeared just where I thought it would, making a dramatic appearance in the image.”
Check out Kevin’s Flickr page for more photos.
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