http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070628.html
Wow. Last week Joe Cottral and I videotaped a pass of the ISS and the Shuttle from Ryerson Observatory; a quick look at the tape showed some structure to the brillant object we were trying to track; but I think I blurred from moving the telescope even the video sub-fields. On the tiny LCD monitor I think we could see the solar panels as two distinct lines separate from the main blob. I'll need to download the video.
But man, look at that image! Ron Dantowitz has been doing this for over ten years; and only gets better with time. Images like this always seem to perk the interest of the national imaging community.
Also see Mike Tyrrell's images (and videos mentioned here),
public Russian adaptive-optic images, the down-sampled Maui ones, etc.
My word, that's astounding!
ReplyDeleteOf course, now that this sort of imagery is within reach of poor astronomers (and by implication, small governments and even well-heeled amateurs), I wonder how long it'll be until somebody decides it would be fun to tweak the USNRO by posting similarly hi-res photos of spy satellites.
When I saw that photo my jaw hit the floor. Just seeing the detail on the brand new solar panel was amazing. Of course, my wife was less than thrilled.
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