Although cloud was forecast for the time that the Artemis 2 Capsule would clear the treetops in our back garden in Brisbane, I decided to set up my telescope to see if I could record this Lunar Mission, now over 342,000kms from Earth.
I captured 6 sets of images, but 4 sets were ruined by clouds. Luckily, I had a 19 Frame Set Tracked at the Custom Rate of Artemis 2 and a 15 Frame Set tracked at the Sidereal Rate, showing the trail of Artemis 2 against the fixed background stars.
Celestron C11 F10 Edge HD, ASI 2600 MM Pro Camera.
I used my PC Planetarium program, “The Sky X Pro” to plot the position of Artemis 2 so I could slew the telescope to it. To do this, I had to download some Ephemeris Data and a set of 2 Line Orbital Elements that calculate and plot the expected positions.
Unfortunately, after these data updates, I noticed the plotted positions were slightly different.. Hmm, which one to choose to begin my imaging sequence?
I chose the JPL plotted position which turned out to be most accurate) but the 2 Line Orbital Elements allowed me to set a “Custom Tracking Rate” so the telescope would track at the custom rate of the Space Mission, and not the usual Sidereal Rate which follows the stars.
It was amazing to see this tiny, moving dot on my computer screen, knowing that in that distant Artemis Capsule, that tiny dot of light, there are 4 human beings on their way to the Moon and back.
Dennis.
I captured 6 sets of images, but 4 sets were ruined by clouds. Luckily, I had a 19 Frame Set Tracked at the Custom Rate of Artemis 2 and a 15 Frame Set tracked at the Sidereal Rate, showing the trail of Artemis 2 against the fixed background stars.
Celestron C11 F10 Edge HD, ASI 2600 MM Pro Camera.
I used my PC Planetarium program, “The Sky X Pro” to plot the position of Artemis 2 so I could slew the telescope to it. To do this, I had to download some Ephemeris Data and a set of 2 Line Orbital Elements that calculate and plot the expected positions.
Unfortunately, after these data updates, I noticed the plotted positions were slightly different.. Hmm, which one to choose to begin my imaging sequence?
I chose the JPL plotted position which turned out to be most accurate) but the 2 Line Orbital Elements allowed me to set a “Custom Tracking Rate” so the telescope would track at the custom rate of the Space Mission, and not the usual Sidereal Rate which follows the stars.
It was amazing to see this tiny, moving dot on my computer screen, knowing that in that distant Artemis Capsule, that tiny dot of light, there are 4 human beings on their way to the Moon and back.
Dennis.
