Spot the Space Station

[day_trippr]

The Parker Solar Probe lives!

https://www.yahoo.com/news/nasa-makes-history-closest-ever-102839793.html

 

[Rish]

430,000 mph! That is amazing.

 

[day_trippr]

Starship flight #7 details are posted, except for the date. Looks pretty ambitious...
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-7

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

Starship flight #7 details are posted, except for the date. Looks pretty ambitious...
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-7

Elon posted this Friday but not much activity going on to suggest that. Lots to do yet but considering Starbase's work day it might be ready.

Today I rearranged my launch patches, I should have room for four more. I'm going to have to extend my bar if it goes beyond ten test flights. I already know the answer.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

Interesting article.

https://allaboutbeer.com/why-are-brewers-fascinated-with-outer-space/

 

[day_trippr]

Couple of aspiring moon landers to be launched soon...

https://www.space.com/space-explora...private-blue-ghost-moon-lander-set-for-jan-15

 

[tracer bullet]

And a list of what they hope to do with it until it can't gather enough daylight to run: https://www.space.com/space-explora...ith-these-10-nasa-experiments-in-january-2025

Cool!

 

[day_trippr]

Starship flight 7 scheduled for launch at 5pm EST on Monday Jan 13...

https://www.space.com/space-explora...t-to-pad-ahead-of-flight-7-test-launch-photos

Cheers!

 

[day_trippr]

https://news.yahoo.com/news/spacecraft-buzzes-mercurys-north-pole-155850113.html

 

[day_trippr]

New Glenn next launch attempt is scheduled for the wee hours at 1 am EST on Monday, January 13, but subject to the same sea conditions that cancelled the two previous attempts...

https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/...the-launch-pad-waiting-for-calm-seas-to-land/


Meanwhile, SpaceX plans on launching the first of the Version 2 rockets Monday afternoon. The launch window opens at 5 pm EST...

https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/...n-of-spacexs-starship-is-almost-ready-to-fly/

 

[day_trippr]

Man, Blue Origin launch attempt was a total cluster-eff. One delay after another with little explanation if any why each occurred before they said "Screw this!" and quit because they weren't going to make the window in time. Bleh.

Meanwhile, SpaceX doesn't like the weather at sea so their launch is moved to Wednesday with their window opening at 5 PM EST...

 

[balrog]

Pull out yer Newtonians and photograph moon occulting Mars at ~9:20 Eastern tonight.

I'll be battling clouds because, yeah, karma.

Infographic on times for diff places
https://www.astroleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/2025-Jan-13-Moon-occults-Mars.pdf

 

[day_trippr]

Very close here...

 

[balrog]

I'm socked in but hopeful.

earlier tonight:

A moment ago.

 

[day_trippr]

The convergence lined up smack in the middle of the crown of a pine tree across the street

 

[balrog]

Of course it did.

 

[balrog]

Getting close, clouds playing "Let's See How Much We Can Annoy Joseph"

Best I can do hand held, leaning on tree, zoom lens

 

[balrog]

Clouds came back. I am tapping out. This was as close as I could get

 

[day_trippr]

lol! Ok, so first, I misread that table and took Boise's times as Boston's. Hence the moon was down in the trees when I posted earlier.
Wondering why you were still putting images up, I just checked that page again. DOH!

So I run out on the deck and a great big bright as all F moon is almost straight up and it was still covering Mars by a scoche.
Way too bright for my phone to do anything useful, and it really challenged my mild astigmatism with flaring.

Oh well, it's the thought that counts, right?

 

[passedpawn]

Wow nice job guys.

The worst night to take a pic of the moon is during full moon. The sun is so direct on it, the cool features are muted. Best shots, are before and after.

I have a 5" newtonian but haven't gotten my camera attached to it (yet).

 

[balrog]

Wow nice job guys.

The worst night to take a pic of the moon is during full moon. The sun is so direct on it, the cool features are muted. Best shots, are before and after.

I have a 5" newtonian but haven't gotten my camera attached to it (yet).

Getting my camera on my 6" Newtonian is still on my list.
I did get the telescope out for the eclipse; just need a better solar filter. Also on my list to make--I have the bits ready.
I was chuffed that the clouds parted beautifully just after the 9:26 occultation time. Up to then they wispy sheets of ISO increasing annoyance kept wafting/breaking over the area.

Jupiter was pretty intense also but with a zoom lens of meager diameter there's almost no point (I think the red spot is not prominent enough without enough aperture/magnification; and certainly not without a sturdy tripod).

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

I've had crap seeing over the past 2 weeks, literally due to the fact that I got a dedicated planetary camera for Christmas I'm sure of it.. had one night to do a test run which went ok but have a ton to learn.. last night I got to peer through clouds at the moon/mars conjunction but wasn't clear enough to get the scope out. I did get a look at the grs a few weeks back but wasn't very clear. Sometime soon I hope for a clear night with better seeing so I can lock down some images with my new camera.

 

[balrog]

Wow nice job guys.

The worst night to take a pic of the moon is during full moon. The sun is so direct on it, the cool features are muted. Best shots, are before and after.

I have a 5" newtonian but haven't gotten my camera attached to it (yet).

Hmm.

I think I'm gonna need a bigger boat telescope

 

[balrog]

Hey @day_trippr , here's one from MA!

https://www.space.com/stargazing/ma...moon-in-gorgeous-photos-from-around-the-world

 

[day_trippr]

Impressive!

Meanwhile, SpaceX moved today's launch to tomorrow at 5pm est...

 

[Konadog]

Well............... nice launch and incredible catch, but the Star Ship is in question now.

 

[day_trippr]

Starship re-entry



Back to the drawing board...

 

[passedpawn]

but the chipsticks!

 

[day_trippr]

So I totally missed the Blue Origin New Glenn launch but here's a playable recording (such as it is - Blue Origin is a long way from the current state of the art of end-to-end flight coverage provided by SpaceX). Jump to 1:54:00 and you can hear what sounds like pumps winding up (turns out it was an APU), followed by what has to be the slowest liftoff of all time!

 

[passedpawn]