Observation by Nigel Evans: 2025-010D

Uploaded by

Nigel Evans

Observer

Nigel Evans

Observed

2026 Aug 04 - 02:00

Uploaded

2026 Aug 05 - 17:59

Objects

Spacecraft

Equipment

200mm EdgeHD +ASI6200

Exposure

5sec sub, then Sum 40 Step 20

Location

Ipswich Suffolk

Target name

2025-010D

Title

2025-010D

About this image

The skies had a hazy "should I bother" appearance when I tried to image 2025-010D, a discarded Falcon9 upper stage that was to impact the Moon the following day (5th August). At the time of observation, a rather indistinct Moon was some 10 degrees away

Due to the high motion, exposures were limited to 5 seconds - over 700 were taken as the rocket crossed the 40 arcmin FoV.

01:26 - 02:33 UT

FoV 12 x 18 arcmin

Files associated with this observation

2025-010D NSE.gif (9.0 MB)

Like this image

Grant Privett, Mike Harlow, Martin Mobberley, Steve Knight, Dominic Ford, Alex Pratt

Comments

Grant Privett, 2026 Aug 06 - 18:56 UTC

Hi Nigel,

What sort of magnitudes were you getting?

Grant

Nigel Evans, 2026 Aug 07 - 08:05 UTC

When summed in groups of 30 (=150sec), the majority were unmeasurable , only a couple registered 16.6 or 17.1

For the global sum (540 frames=45min) I have mag 16.55. Yes, it is an average value but I am pleased to have recorded it given the hazy sky I had.

Grant Privett, 2026 Aug 07 - 10:54 UTC

Yeah, the tumbling meant it totally vanished for me in many of the frames. Tycho Tracker suffered a bit too because of that. I got values from 16th to 18th mag mainly with an excursion or two up to 15th.

I threw away at least 70% of my images that night.

I remember in the 80s thinking my astro ambition was to photograph a 13th magnitude star. How things have moved on...

Copyright of all images and other observations submitted to the BAA remains with the owner of the work. Reproduction of work by third parties is expressly forbidden without the consent of the copyright holder. By submitting images to this online gallery, you grant the BAA permission to reproduce them in any of our publications.

Registered charity no. 210769
Registered company no. 117572

For more information including contact details, click here.

Our Terms of Use are here.

Our Privacy Policy is here.