Alain Grycan – MIR space station, Antonio Vilchez – Tiangong-1 space station, Ethan Roberts – SpaceX Dragon CRS-16, Martin Lewis – ISS and Soyuz MS-13, Philip Smith – Tiangong-1 Space Station, Philip Smith – Tianhe Space Station (first module), Philip Smith – Tienho + Tianzhou-2 + Shenzhou-12 (Chinese Space Station), Vishal Sharma – Hubble Space Telescope
(click on names above to jump)
Alain Grycan
Alain’s Flickr page
Alain Grycan and Eric Laffont from France have obtained the most spectacular amateur-made images of MIR (that we’ve seen). This (negative) first image is an example of their work. It appeared in Flash (the newsletter of the Belgian Working Group Satellites) in 1991. The different MIR modules are clearly visible. Also clearly discernible to the right is the Sofora mast structure. The zoom-in (at top) shows the Progress motor compartment, compared to a computer-generated drawing. Their second image was taken during the June 1995 Mir/STS-71 mission; both craft are clearly outlined.
Ethan Roberts
(Ethan’s Instagram profile)
Martin Lewis
(Martin’s website profile)
Tiangong-1
Tianhe
I was lucky to image a somewhat high resolution image of Tianhe-1 Module to the China Space Station from Manorville, NY in my backyard observatory. I was determined because a had many pass that ah rainy or cloudy weather. So this was my chance on May 05-2021 at 03:54:13 ETS the Tianhe-1 Module would exits form Earths shadow at 56°. So it does not give me much time to see it and the try to image. The max height was 75° at 03:54:46. The sky look very clear at that time. The seeing was poor according to my weather information from Clear Sky Chart. My imaging configuration was an OTA Edge HD 14 ′′ telescope with an Baader Red 610 nm Longpass Filter – 1.25″ on a ZWO ASI174MM (mono) camera and Baader Planetarium Carl Zeiss 1-1/4″ Abbe Barlow Lens 2x. All on a custom built Orion EQ-G mount and custom software.
All images were from my backyard observatory in Manorville NY, USA.This is a composite image of the International Space Station that I imaged on 05-06-21 and the Chinese Space Station Tianhe-1 Core Module that I imaged on 05-19-21. Please Note: My imaging configuration was the same for both Space Station images. My imaging configuration was an Edge HD 14 ′′ telescope with an Baader Red 610 nm Longpass Filter 1.25″ on a ZWO ASI174MM (mono) camera at full sensorI 1936 x 1216 and Baader Planetarium Carl Zeiss 1-1/4″ 2x Barlow Lens. This is to scale and would look like if the two Space Stations were flying side by side. I think I am the first amature astronomer to get these high resolution images of the Chinese Space Station to make this composite image. The International Space Station and Chinese Space Station were imaged at the same height. I hope in time to get even better images to share. For know I have truly documented history with my images and for the space community.
China’s new space station is now occupied. Astronauts Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo are onboard, preparing the outpost for expansion. On June 24th the crowded station flew over my observatory on 06-24-21 from Manorville, New York. I think I may be the first to image 3 Astronauts On Board Chinese Space from the ground. The seeing was not good. The (CSS) Chinese Space Station pass was at 80° and the Sun was -11°. I did not see the solar panels in this pass in the way I hoped to image them. I will keep trying to get a better image to share with you. My imaging configuration was an Edge HD 14′′ telescope with an Baader Red 610nm Longpass Filter 1.25″ on a ZWO ASI290MM (mono) camera at full sensor and no barlow
Vishal Sharma
