… 190 miles away as it were. Amazing the things amature astronomers can do these days. Latest example – take one Boston-area high school class, mix with the Clay Center Observatory‘s 25" telescope, a digital camera and adaptive optics and voila:
More on adaptive optics here
h/t: Chap and Danger Room
November 19th, 1969: 115:22:16 Conrad: (As he lands) Whoopie! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but that’s a long one for me. (Pause) [Jones – "I understand that there was a bet on your saying that."] [Bean – "Who’d you bet?"] [Conrad – "You know who I bet."]…
About this time last year (11 Jan), China conducted the now infamous direct-ascent ASAT (Anti-Satellite) hit-to-kill test. We have written to some degree about it already – notably here and here. Both articles describe the notorious aspect of the test – the addition of significant amounts of debris to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). How much? …
What is the mission of NASA? No — Seriously, what is NASA’s mission? Is it to be the lead Agency for exploration in the fields of aeronautics and space? Discovering new technologies, opening new vistas of engineering and scientific knowledge for further exploration and utilization by US industry and the free nations of the world?…
“Are you a turtle?” I had always wanted to go to the Navy. As a young kid, I was intrigued by a Naval Officer with the beautiful brown shoes and sharp gold wings.- Wally Schirra Born into an aviator family (his father had gone to Canada during WW1 to earn his wings and his mom…
When all else fails – and your butt is on the line with a major PR catastrophe looming, it is best to man-up, square your shoulders and do your duty as organizational lead by assuming responsibility before The Big Guy…unless you are the head of Russia’s ROSKOSMOS space agency. Then you can hint darkly about…
If we have learned one thing from the history of invention and discovery, it is that, in the long run – and often in the short one – the most daring prophecies seem laughably conservative. – Arthur C. Clarke, The Exploration of Space, 1951 Radar specialist, scientist, visonary and author. One of the great pillars…
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Not exactly backyard astronomy. This exercise took money and lots of it. The ISS pass was recorded at the diffraction limit of a 25 inch Ritchey-Cretien instrument (super expensive) and then the AO hardware. This total hardware cost is likely in the millions of dollars. Yje Clay center is an impressive installation that exceeds some of the instruments up the hill at the famous Lick Observatory here in SJ.
http://www.dexter-southfield.org/podium/default.aspx?t=11309
As a comparison, the most rabid amatuer imagers I know have total equipment budgets approaching $100K (mine is under $10K — all bundled with a medium diameter Schmidt Cassegrain scope, mount, and not including the Suburban to get it all out of town), and my observing results using eyeball, pencil and paper are pretty decent.
I do know some guy named “Sam” lots of money, who uses the best in adaptive optics, using still larger diameter telescopes, positioned at lower altitudes than ISS. Betcha he gets some great images of smaller detail than shown on Google Earth.
-SJBill