STS-131 Discovery in orbit Image 2010/04/19(UT)
Ralf Vandebergh
R.Vandebergh
| Ralf Vandebergh(250mm Newton) |
I Worked hard this week to process STS-131 images taken during the last days, on its trip back to Earth. This one was taken on the original planned landing day. (The orbiter landed finally one day later due to bad weather conditions in Florida) It descended already a bit which helped certainly in resolution compared with my earlier images taken of the mission. This was a 72 degrees pass, far from closest distance, so theoretically, resolution can still be improved. What helped enormously, was the great seeing above our location on that day. There is a chance, that this is one of my last images of Discovery, depending on circumstances and passes, because this is Dicovery's second last flight! Additionally, this was the last flight were we see the Multi Purpose Logstics Module (MPLM) Leonardo carried back to Earth. The large container is clearly visible in the Payload Bay. Next time, this module will be permanently attached to the Space Station. Imaging: 10 inch f/4.8 Newtonian, manually tracked, ATIK instruments ATK-2C camera, 1/500 sec exp)
it's solo flight after undock from the ISS. This image contains the original color information. As mentioned earlier, It was very surprising that the obtained resolution occured with a just 70 degrees pass, far from overhead, but the fact that the orbiter already descended a little and the great seeing helped. Interesting additional fact is that the imaging took place at the time that the volcanic ash cloud from Island covered the region. The cloud was very low density however, but skies were clearly more hazy then normal. It's not impossible that the dust worked out positively on the seeing. This is just a presumption.
subject: 2010/04/19 STS-131 addional image __________________________________________ This image shows better view on the cockpit and nose, taken a while before closest distance, so not maximum resolution but before the cockpit got hidden behind shade. During a shuttle pass, viewing angle and angle of illumination constantly changes.The image at closest
[バンディバ:オランダ] [Ralf Vandebergh:Neighbourhood of Maastricht Netherlands]
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2010/04/28 [ISS]
| 2010/04/18 [ISS and STS-131]
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