Greetings from Earth to Artemis II Astronauts on Re-entry Day!!!
Taken by Bill Williams on April 10, 2026 @
Chiefland Astro Village, Florida, USA
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Artemis II Astronauts prepare for their return to Earth with re-entry and splashdown in several hours in the Pacific Ocean off San Diego. I imagine these astronauts did not suspect that amateur astronomers were spying on them on the morning of their re-entry from Earth. They were easily studied from the Chiefland Astronomy Village in north Florida this morning from 4:00AM EDT until 4:27AM EDT using a 0.37M RCOS telescope and 11K CCD camera. At an altitude of only 20 degrees, Artemis traveled southeast 12.5 arcminutes for a series of 2-minute exposures with 5-second intervals. The spaceship passed 9th magnitude star SAO 208939 near Scorpius' tail and appeared an estimated 12th magnitude. The JPL-Horizons ephemeris was so accurate! As twilight was taking over this morning, I grabbed a few photons of beautiful comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS)! I wonder if the astronauts looked out their spaceship window to see beautiful comet?? I certainly would have!!!
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