Observation by Colin Henshaw: Mentor 6 Reconnaisance Satellite and Mir...

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Colin Henshaw

Observer

Colin Henshaw

Observed

2017 Oct 16 - 18:02

Uploaded

2017 Oct 20 - 06:15

Objects

Mira
Spacecraft

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Constellation

Cetus

Field centre

RA: 02^h22^m
Dec: -03°40'
Position angle: -35°15'

Field size

3°34' × 2°20'

Equipment

Canon 6D Camera
135mm Carl Zeiss telephoto lens

Exposure

1sec at 10000ASA

Location

Briga Township, Tabuk, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Target name

Mentor 6 and Mira

Title

Mentor 6 Reconnaisance Satellite and Mira

About this image

Mentor 6 is a large reconnaissance satellite located in a geostationary orbit somewhere over the Indian Ocean where it probably monitors nefarious goings on in the Middle East and elsewhere. It is large, probably the size of a football pitch. Being located in this position, certain stars appear to pass it every day, notably Omicron Ceti and V Aquilae. As a result of observing these stars, when they are in the right position, Mentor 6 appears in the field. However diurnal rotation carries the stars out of the field very quickly. Two other geostationary satellites have been recorded in the original image. If a longer exposure was used, the stars would have trailed, but Mentor 6 would have remained as a stellar point image.

Files associated with this observation

Mentor-6-and-Mira-16-10-2017-21.02UT-1s-10000ASA-135mmTF-f5.6-1.jpg (156.2 kB)

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Jeremy Shears, David Basey, Peter Carson

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