The night I watched a star blink out 20 minutes before the ISS passed over

Last Tuesday I set up my 8 inch Dobsonian in the backyard around 9 PM to catch some deep sky objects. Everything was going fine until I swung over to Cygnus and saw a star that just vanished while I was looking at it. I thought my mirror fogged up but no, it was a satellite flare caught on the edge of the frame, happened to be perfectly timed 20 minutes before the ISS came through. That moment made me realize most of the 'wow' photos I see are just lucky timing, not skill. Anyone else ever have a random accident turn into your best observing story?

1 comments

1 Comment

umab3528d ago

Got a buddy who had something similar happen but way weirder. He was out with his cheap little refractor, not even trying to see anything specific, just scanning the sky. A bright meteor shot right through his eyepiece view, and he yelled so loud his neighbor thought something was wrong. He never got a photo, but the story got better when he realized the meteor's path lined up perfectly with where Jupiter would rise an hour later. Told everyone he was tracking Jupiter and caught a shooting star on purpose. Now he's got this whole legend going at our local club, and honestly, I'm a little jealous.