Orwell Astronomical Society (Ipswich)
Polaris Dawn, 14 September 2024
Nowadays, most manned spaceflights visit the ISS. However the recent launch of "Polaris Dawn", funded by billionaire Jared Isaacman, is an exception. Other notable aspects of the mission include the first spacewalk not funded by a government and the furthest distance a human being ventured from Earth since the crew of Apollo 17 in 1972.
The orbit of Polaris Dawn was such that the craft was initially not visible from the UK. However precession of the orbit eventually brought it into visibility in the morning sky, albeit at very low altitude. On 14 September 2024, there was an orbital passage at an altitude of only 11° above the SE horizon. The only way I could see such a passage was from an upstairs window!
With a 50 mm lens the capsule was just visible - see video below. To show the craft clearly, the video has been stacked and tracked. As the capsule approached Sirius on the left, the phase angle changed sufficiently that the craft became invisible.
With a 100 mm lens, the craft was more obvious, and can be seen directly in the below video without stacking. (Letter box format is used to reduce the file size.) I did not see the craft with the naked eye.
The following day, the craft splashed down successfully in the Gulf of Mexico.
Nigel Evans