Joe, don't kick yourself in the head. It's highly doubtful that you would have been able to manually track the shuttle through the C-8 with enough magnification to give a recognizable image. Even the Starfire people had trouble, and they were manually correcting a flawed track that had been programmed-in. I've tried following satellites many times at high power, and while hand-tracking is possible, there is no way I could have operated a camera at the same time. Chuck --- Joe Bauman <bau@desnews.com> wrote:
What bugs me is that I had my 8" set up during the night before Columbia passed over us, and I brought both a digital Nikon camera from the paper and my own old Nikon, either of which I could have attached to the telescope for the passage. But I did not take a view of Columbia through the 'scope. In fact, I shot some digital views of Saturn during the night. I am kicking myself for not squeezing off one shot of Columbia through the telescope. If I'd used the digital for that, I could have electronically upped the ISO so that it was really fast, and I could have taken a much better view than the fellows in New Mexico got. I'm also put out with myself that I didn't get better photos with the equipment I was using, that I didn't bother to turn on my tape recorder (it was in my camera bag), that I didn't observe better myself, and that I neglected to bring my video camera. I had intended to videotape the passage. As I pulled away from home I realized I had forgotten the video camera, then thought, nah, I'm not going to go back inside for it. I'm just glad I went and that I got quotes from people who were better observers that morning. -- Joe
Joe Bauman science & military reporter Deseret News bau@desnews.com (801) 237-2169
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