Aeromoe's Version of Joe Orman's Naked-Eye 100 List


Number 92: Artificial Satellites - An Iridium Flare and an Atlas Centaur


Below are two photographs of an Atlas Centaur 2 trail I happened to catch while photographing an Iridium Flare.
The Atlas satellite trail is visible at a roughly 90-degree angle to the top (North) of the Iridium Flare.

Using the Heavens Above website I deduced the identity of the Atlas Centaur with near-100% certainty.
My observation and photographs match the satellite prediction data at Heavens Above.

Please roll your mouse over the second photo to see the labeled version of the photo.


So after the first photo, I quickly panned the camera east towards Orion and pressed the shutter. My ISO rating wasn't quite high enough to capture the Atlas very brightly, but I did manage to record some of it's faint light during the exposure.
Please roll your mouse over the photo below to see the labeled version of the photo.
The path of the satellite (from right to left in this photo) is annotated with little circles. Note how the satellite just skims above the constellation Orion.
[Orion_AtlasCentaurSatelliteTrail_091810.jpg]

Below is a screen shot from Heavens Above showing the path of the Atlas Centaur 2. My photograph matches almost perfectly.