Flaring Geosats
Taken by Alan Dyer on March 9, 2021 @
near Gleichen, Alberta
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Camera Used: NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D750
Exposure Time: 30/1
Aperture: f/2.2
ISO: 3200
Date Taken: 2021:03:11 15:25:22
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Details:
This is a capture of a line of geosats (geostationary communication satellites) on March 9, 2021, as they flare in brightness during one of their semi-annual "flare" seasons near the equinoxes. They are reflecting sunlight back to Earth, flaring from their normal dim telescopic brightness to briefly become bright enough to see with the unaided eye. They are brightest around the point directly opposite the Sun, here marked by the dim glow of the Gegenschein, another reflection of sunlight but off dust particles in the outer solar system beyond Earth's orbit. In this case, a number of the satellites are flaring to the brightness of Regulus, at first magnitude.
While it looks like the satellites are moving, they are actually stationary with respect to the Earth (thus their name) and it is the sky that is moving. But the camera was tracking the sky, keeping the stars pinpoints, making the satellites stand out better as trails due to their motion with respect to the background stars during the 2.5 minutes of accumulated exposure time.
This is a stack of 5 x 30-second tracked exposures, with a 24mm Sigma lens at f/2.2 and Nikon D750 at ISO 3200, with the camera on the Star Adventurer 2i tracker.
Photographer's website:
https://www.amazingsky.com
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