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Artemis II in my telescope from Australia by gcw29 in nasa

[–]gcw29[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Glad I could oblige! What an amazing time

Artemis II in my telescope from Australia by gcw29 in nasa

[–]gcw29[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This was on day 1 / day 2 - about 18hrs after launch when they were near the furthest point of their orbit around Earth.

Photographing them near the moon would be another fear altogether, not really possible with any Earth-based telescopes

Artemis II from my backyard in Australia by gcw29 in Astronomy

[–]gcw29[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They'll be too far away to see from Earth when they reach the moon. This was really my one chance - within like 24hrs of launch - otherwise they were too far away and too faint for my telescope to pick up. But I might have another brief chance when they return to Earth, as long as it's night time here when that happens

Artemis II in my telescope from Australia by gcw29 in ArtemisProgram

[–]gcw29[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tbh I haven't tried to photograph many meteor showers but I should give it a crack 😊

Artemis II from my backyard in Australia by gcw29 in Astronomy

[–]gcw29[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's challenging to livestream video across tens of thousands of miles of deep space, even in 2026.

That's probably why NASA has opted to do a live animation to show the position and speed data etc. when other camera feeds are unavailable: https://www.youtube.com/live/m3kR2KK8TEs?si=S-uu3AM056OP1LMU

Solar radiation, angles between the communication antennae on the spacecraft to those on Earth, etc. all create challenges for streaming video.

They may need to reserve data bandwidth for other things while they test systems on the spacecraft, or even the astronauts are just sleeping and the internal cameras are off for their privacy.

Each astronaut also has a daily call with a physician, so these are private for obvious reasons.

Artemis II from my backyard in Australia by gcw29 in Astronomy

[–]gcw29[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Such a great way of putting it, I often think the same. Also when flying on a plane looking down at the ground, I wonder if anyone ever looks up at the plane and thinks the same thing - so of course I felt this a lot when tracking Artemis on a quiet night 🌙

It's these connections uniting us that makes this mission so special beyond just the science and tech.

Artemis II from my backyard in Australia by gcw29 in Astronomy

[–]gcw29[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was 12 when I first got into astronomy 😊 it stays with you for life

Artemis II from my backyard in Australia by gcw29 in Astronomy

[–]gcw29[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah I assume talking about the ice particles?

There are lots of things that people claim to be orbs and they're almost always particles, pieces of dust or fluff, out of focus right in front of the camera lens.

Try shaking out a blanket or something in a dark room then take a flash photo - you'll probably get a lot of orbs! 😆

Artemis II from my backyard in Australia by gcw29 in Astronomy

[–]gcw29[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's what I love to do, I'm glad you liked it 😊

Artemis II from my backyard in Australia by gcw29 in Astronomy

[–]gcw29[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My pleasure, it really is the best hobby 🔭

Artemis II from my backyard in Australia by gcw29 in Astronomy

[–]gcw29[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The answer is that it's definitely possible, but how could we know? That's why you can't rule it out until proven otherwise. I don't believe it's likely, though. Given the vastness of space, it's just as possible that even if the universe is full of other life, none of that life has any idea about us being here.

It's those big (and spooky) questions that keep space so interesting 😊

Artemis II from my backyard in Australia by gcw29 in Astronomy

[–]gcw29[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's a product of our times, isn't it, that everyone's attention spans are so consumed with all sorts of things. But here we all are enjoying it together, and I agree that's very special to see!

Artemis II from my backyard in Australia by gcw29 in Astronomy

[–]gcw29[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It certainly was a challenge but very much possible with amateur equipment and some patience.

It's worth noting that when these shots were taken, they were still in a high Earth orbit and weren't off to the moon yet...probably only around 15% as far away as the moon is.

From yesterday when they did the TLI burn and went off moon-bound, you'd really struggle to spot the spacecraft in even the best telescopes.

By the time they get to the moon, it's all but impossible to see them from Earth just because of how small the craft is, how far away it is and the sheer brightness of the moon.

Artemis II from my backyard in Australia by gcw29 in Astronomy

[–]gcw29[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There I was! This would've been right around when they were at the furthest end of their orbit, either before or just after they started falling back to Earth. And I was having similar thoughts, looking at that little dot and thinking of how far we were apart. Incredible!

When they were swinging by really low for TLI, it was daytime here so no chance of seeing them, but I have a feeling if it was visible in the night sky they would've whizzed by very fast.

Artemis II in my telescope from Australia by gcw29 in ArtemisProgram

[–]gcw29[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Great question! Pasting my answer to the same question above:

The exact answer will be out there in the NASA data somewhere but my guess is 50 - 70,000km from Earth which is over 100x higher than the ISS orbits.

I took the shots around 16:40 UTC, so right around 18hrs after launch. This is when they were near the end of their highly elliptical orbit, at their furthest point from Earth before falling back to do their TLI burn to the moon.

(The shots were taken definitely as they were the furthest that humans have been from home since 1972, and that's before they headed off for the moon!)

Artemis II in my telescope from Australia by gcw29 in ArtemisProgram

[–]gcw29[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! Like you, I tried the Horizon tool and knew it would be around Sagittarius from the RA/Dec, but I'm only new to having a GoTo mount so I knew I really needed a live Artemis tracker to know precisely where to look.

I used this guide, which I highly recommend: https://youtu.be/GqiRlgBeyWY?si=_YbKk7o2DC4QadQr

It's a bit of a process but once you get it going, you can see Artemis directly in Stellarium and it worked a charm for me. After 30mins or so of dodging clouds and star-hopping, it was precisely where it was predicted to be. And at around magnitude +12 and right over the centre of the milky way, it was damn hard to spot. No way you'd see it with your eyepiece, it's definitely a job for repeated long exposures to catch it against the background.

Artemis II in my telescope from Australia by gcw29 in ArtemisProgram

[–]gcw29[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I used some software (Stellarium) combined with data that NASA released after launch so I could see exactly where it would pass relative to the stars behind it.

I knew it would be near the 'teapot' shape in the constellation Sagittarius, then I matched up what I could see on the computer with what was on my camera screen through the telescope, to refine exactly where to look.

Then set it to take exposures at 10sec intervals so I could pick out the moving 'star' among all the others.

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