Post a Comment On: SatTrackCam Leiden (b)log

Yesterday evening in late twilight (sun 11 degrees under the horizon, waxing gibbous moon low in the sky) I observed Progress M-22M (2014-005A), the Russian cargoship that undocked from the ISS on April 7.

[Image]  click image to enlarge
The undocked Progress will be flying solo for several days, during which ionospheric tests are conducted. It will be de-orbitted on April 18 near 15:43 UT.

As usual, the Progress spacecraft was easily visible to the naked eye, reaching about mag. +2. It passed between Gemini and Canis minor (and roughly halway between Procyon and Jupiter, see image above), then over the head and body of Leo and through the Coma Berenices cluster (see imagebelow) before disappearing behind the roof. It was about 25 minutes ahead of the ISS.

[Image] click image to enlarge
25 minutes later I did a first attempt to image the ISS in high resolution through my C6. I managed to get two images of it, but they are not of good quality. I guess I have to practise a bit more :-)