Observation by Nick James: JWST and upper stage

Uploaded by

Nick James

Observer

Nick James

Observed

2021 Dec 31 - 22:00

Uploaded

2022 Jan 01 - 08:33

Objects

Spacecraft

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Constellation

Orion

Field centre

RA: 06^h08^m
Dec: +00°00'
Position angle: +1°07'

Field size

0°27' × 0°16'

Equipment

ASI6200MM + Celestron HD11

Exposure

5x60s

Location

Chelmsford, UK

Target name

JWST

Title

JWST and upper stage

About this image

These are images of the JWST spacecraft (2021-130A) and the Ariane upper stage (2021-130B) taken last night. They are currently around 2 deg apart on the sky. JWST is much brighter tonight and the huge sunshield was being deployed. The magnitude was 14.3 at a range of 687,000 km. I think that the sunshield was half out when this image was taken but this implies a magnitude of around 16 or so at L2.

Files associated with this observation

jwst_20211231_2200_ndj.jpg (617.5 kB)

Like this image

David Basey, Peter Mulligan, Chris Dole, Dean Ashton, Mike Harlow, Dr Paul Leyland, Ron Johnson

Comments

Dr Paul Leyland, 2022 Jan 05 - 17:36 UTC

Have you submitted astrometry of the Ariane? How bright was it?

We would like as good an orbit as possible so it has a good chance of being recovered in 2047 on its next close approach.

Most anyone with a camera can reach 16 mag if they could be bothered. I've seen images showing 19th-magnitude Cepheids in M31 which were taken with a 80mm refractor.

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