Name the Heavenly Bodies

Bourbon Neat

Senior Member
Shot the bugger and didn't even see it with the naked eye. That must be a planet above to its right.

astro.jpg


Know what that is called?

astroII.jpg
 

Bourbon Neat

Senior Member
First shot is facing west. According to my research online, the planet is Venus and the flaring to its lower left is Lovejoy. After seeing Lovejoy in the photo, I then looked to that direction and saw the same thing on two more consecutive evenings. Both evenings it was lower to the horizon until not visible. In my opinion a better viewing than Halley's.

The second shot, according to online research, is either an iridium flare or a fireball.

Again online research, there are about 60 communications satellites orbiting earth, called the iridium constellation. These are satellite communications units, remember the $5000 satellite phone? I guess they often reflect light and can sometimes be seen glinting during the day.
 

MartinCornwall

Senior Member
Just showed the 2nd photo to my 7 year old daughter and she read the question and immediately said "That's an Iridium flare Daddy" ;) Mind you she has seen lots of them from my back garden. You can take multiple exposures and stack them in StarStax to get the whole flare. My phone is set to alert me 15 mins before the flares occur. Some of the satellites even travel in pairs (like below) so they have a backup in case of failure.
153DoubleIridium7(-6.7,40'40')StaxLR.JPG
 

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