ISS Solar Transit | 19 Feb 2024
Two weeks ago I posted about a solar transit by the ISS. It was difficult to see on the screen. It was not quite in focus. Today, I tried again with better results. The solar filter on the camera was made in 2016 from a pair of eclipse glasses, an orange juice container, and duct tape.
I took more care this time to get the focus and exposure set properly. This video is slowed down a great deal from real time with iMovie. The transit took about 1 second in real time. The station moved from 1 o’clock to the 8 o’clock position.
Hubble & JWST | Different Views
When the Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescopes image the objects of the night sky, they do so a very different wavelengths. Hubble primarily images in the visible part of the spectrum and some ultraviolet but it doesn’t see the longer infrared waves. The JWST images in the much longer wavelengths of infrared but doesn’t see visible waves.
The images each produce have significantly different appearances. For example, the spiral galaxy Messier 74 (NGC628) imaged by JWST has an orange cast from the regions of dust glowing in the infrared.
Part of the same galaxy imaged by Hubble in visible light is overlaid on the JWST image and revealed in the lower right half of the next image. They are the same scale and orientation. The Hubble part of this image glows brightly in light blue due to the presence of many stars. Dark weblike patterns of dust block much of the starlight originating behind it.
Follow the dark lane just to the right of center as it curves up toward the boundary and into the JWST part of the image. The band of dark becomes a glowing orange band curving counterclockwise away from the center. What is going on?
Hubble sees the visible starlight. The dust blocks the visible light and appears dark. The dust being relatively near those stars absorbs the energetic starlight and then reradiates it as infrared light. JWST cannot see the visible starlight but it easily sees the glowing infrared light from the energized dust.
Apollo 11 Plus 55 Years
July of 2024 marks the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. That event is one of the monumental achievements of mankind. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first humans to set foot on another body of the solar system while Michael Collins orbited the Moon and awaited their return from the surface. Plans are under way to return a human presence on the Moon and eventually Mars. I am certain I will live to see the return to the Moon. Mars is a much bigger challenge. At age 77, I am running out of years.
The space program has always interested me. I saw the efforts to launch satellites as we raced the Russians in order to be first. I saw Sputnik fly over. Some launch failures were spectacular. Successes were thrilling. I was impressed with the challenges and the dangers. Each manned flight got my attention. This book took me back through those days of the early flights leading up to the Apollo missions.
ISS Transits Sun | 6 Feb 2024
I received an email notice from a service a couple of weeks ago telling me of a solar transit by the International Space Station. The centerline was about 15 miles to my west. The transit was to last less than 2 seconds. The day of the transit was clear. I set up my camera and solar filter in a parking lot with a good view of the sky. I recorded video for a minute before and a minute after the expected transit at 9:17:50 am.
After returning home, I viewed the video and found the faint silhouette as it sped across the face of the Sun. With movie editing software, I cropped the video and slowed it down to 25% speed. The ISS appears at the 2 o’clock position, moves across to the left just above the center, and exits at the 8:30 position. It is most visible on a larger format screen. Don’t be surprised if you can’t see it. I followed the Watch on Youtube link and got the ‘best’ result.
If you like this sort of thing, I have a few other posts of transits of the Sun and the Moon by the ISS. Follow this link.
How I See It 