Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Shane Kramer
UCCS Master of Engineering - Space Operations Program
SPCE 5105
ABSTRACT
This purpose of this paper is to detail the design, assembly, difficulties, capabilities and use of a RSOSTASH,
a budget friendly do-it-yourself system for the remote sensing of satellites transiting across either the sun or
the moon. It covers the topics of hardware selection and assembly including the selection of a telescope,
camera, filters and lenses, details the optical specifications of the system, celestial bodies, and target, and
outlines the difficulties a do-it-yourselfer might encounter when attempting to build or utilize such a system.
1. INTRODUCTION
Shortly after I began my career in the aerospace industry, I made a trip out to an Air Force base to introduce
myself to the team on the operations floor. When I stepped out of the
elevator I came face to face with a beautiful large framed photo of a
satellite transiting the moon. I probably spent about 30 seconds looking
at it before heading to my work area for introductions. That was the
exact moment I decided I wanted to put together my own home-made
system to capture satellite transits. I read forums and blogs when the
time was available and remember the day I stumbled across a French
astrophotographers page that showed unbelievable images of the space
station (figure 1 to the left).
Over the course of 3 years I slowly began acquiring equipment. I would
rush everything out on nights where an eclipse, or super moon would
occur (and yes during the super moon eclipse), only to find out that I did
not know enough about my equipment, and how to use it. My T-Ring
adaptor did not seem to work since I could not get anything at all to come
into focus, so more often than not I resigned to using a 25 mm eyepiece,
and manually (and carefully) holding my camera up to the eyepiece to get
shots.
Figure 1. Thierry Legault ISS and How
I came to Love Astrophotography
2. HARDWARE COMPONENTS
The hardware components described in this section make up the guts of the Remote Sensing of Satellite
Transits at Shanes Home (RSOSTASH) system. They were chosen partly due to their affordability, ease of use,
and from recommendations and reviews offered by astronomy and astrophotography communities based on
a budget of $1000.
2.1 TELESCOPE
About three years ago I began researching telescopes in anticipation of a near term purchase. I decided on
the Celestron Nexstar 130SLT (figures 2,3 below) , a Newtonian reflector scope, after discussing its features
in forums, and reading various on-line reviews which claimed that the 130 was the best beginner telescope
for the price. The telescope went on sale on Amazon for $349.00 a few weeks later after I made my decision,
and was delivered shortly after I ordered it.
The Nextstar 130 is a Newtonian optical system (see figure 4). Newtonian reflector scopes consist of a single
parabolic primary mirror at the bottom (back) end, supported in an adjustable cell. They focus light onto a
small flat secondary mirror suspended in the center at the top (front) end in a device known as the spider. It
has legs to attach the secondary to the tube. The secondary mirror reflects the light path through 90 degrees
out to the focuser and eyepiece. The Newtonian reflector was the most common type of amateur astronomy
telescope in the middle of last century. More recently, almost all Dobsonians another very popular type of
amateur telescope have been Newtonians. Since Newtonians have just one curved optical surface they are
fairly simple (read cheap) to make well and can give superb images. The pros and cons of Newtonian
reflectors [1] are:
Pros:
Cons:
Value
Newtonian Reflector
130 mm (5.12 in)
650 mm (26 in)
5
25 mm (0.98 in)
26 x
9 mm (0.35 in)
72 x
StarPointer
Motorized Altazimuth
No Tool, Quick release
Steel
307 x
19 x
13.1
1.07 arc seconds
0.89 arc seconds
345 x
1.7
91 ft (28 m)
1.7 in (43 mm)
33%
11%
Aluminum
Nine slew speeds
Sidereal (4/sec, 2/sec, 1/sec, 0.5/sec, and
32x/16x/8x/4x/2x), Solar and Lunar
Alt-Az, EQ North and EQ South
SkyAlign, Auto 2-Star Align, 1-Star Align, 2-Star
Align, Solar System Align
Fully Computerized / Flash Upgradeable
Optional SkySync GPS Accessory (93969)
2-year Telescope Warranty
with the lens cap-like filter idea since it seemed a little more usable and durable. Pictures of the finished solar
filter are shown below in figures 5 and 6:
Higher magnifications can be attained with longer focal-length eyepieces than would be possible
without the Barlow. Short focal length eyepieces need optical surfaces that are more curved and
therefore are likely to introduce more aberrations.
A Barlow increases the effective focal ratio of the objective. This gives a more acute light cone, which
is less demanding of eyepiece quality because:
1. Rays at the periphery of the cone are closer to being paraxial and thus are less subject to
aberration.
2. A smaller area of the field lens is used.
Many eyepieces have an eye relief (distance of exit pupil from eye lens) that is directly related to its
focal length. For example, the eye relief of a Plssl is 0.73 its focal length. Thus, with these
eyepieces, for a given magnification there will be greater eye relief with a Barlow than without.
Many eyepiece types do not work well with short focal-ratio objectives. The Barlow effectively
increases the focal ratio, allowing the eyepiece to work well.
In order to determine the amplification factor or magnification of a Barlow lens, one must know the position
of the lens relative to the eyepiece and the objective lens or primary mirror. For any given eyepiece and
objective, the Barlow-eyepiece separation and the Barlow-objective separation are related because the focal
plane of the eyepiece is the same as the focal plane of the objective-Barlow combination; as the separation
between the eyepiece and the Barlow increases, the separation of the Barlow and objective decreases.
The amplification factor of a Barlow can be increased by increasing its separation from the eyepiece using
an extension tube it must simultaneously be brought closer to the objective.
One thing that you need to watch for with Barlows used outside their design amplification factor is spherical
aberration. Spherical aberration will be minimized at the design factor, but will almost certainly be present
outside this, although it may not be discernible. [4]
2.2 CAMERA
I purchased an Olympus PEN EPL-1 a few years back after reading some reviews and stumbling
across a sale ($300). The camera was almost universally acclaimed as the best bang-for-the-buck
DSLR you can buy. I have been very happy with it, using it for hiking, mountain climbing, family
portraits and astrophotography. The one draw-back, which I did not learn of until I assembled
RSOSTASH, is that the EPl-1 does not support the use of a remote control. The story is actually kind of funny.
Apparently the camera is almost identical to the remote-friendly EPL-2, but Olympus decided to go out of
their way to disable the use of a remote in the cameras BIOS even though the pinouts are still available.
Apparently they wanted people to buy the EPL-1 first and then upgrade to an EPL-2 when they realized they
wanted a remote and some software upgrades. Obviously this is a pretty big setback when it comes to
astrophotography. I originally thought I would mount my camera, setup a quick shutter speed and turn on
burst mode, and simply hold down the capture button as my satellite transited across the sun or moon. Since I
do not have a remote, and since pressing the capture button on the camera causes 6-8 seconds of instability, I
simply use HD video for imaging, or rely on a 12 second delay for still images, which of course requires a little
timing. The specifications of the EPL-1 are listed in table 2 below [5].
Specification
Width
Depth
Weight
Height
Sensor Resolution
Optical Sensor Type
Total Pixels
Effective Screen Resolution
Optical Sensor Size
Field of View Crop Factor
Sensor Features
Sensor Material
Image Processor
System
Auto Focus Points (Zones) Qty
Digital Video Format
Digital Video Frame Rate
Image Recording Format
Max Image Resolution
Max Video Resolution
Light Sensitivity
Max Shutter Speed
Min Shutter Speed
Exposure Range
Min Operating Temperature
Max Operating Temperature
Image Stabilizer
Lens Mounting
Continuous Shooting Speed
Value
4.8 in
1.4in
10.58 oz
2.8 in
12.3 Megapixel
High Speed Live MOS
13,100,000
12,300,000
13.0 x 17.3mm
2
Supersonic Wave Filter (SWF)
N-Type Metal Oxide Semiconductor
MOS)
TruePic V
TTL contrast detection
225
AVI, MPEG
30 fps
JPEG, RAW, RAW + JPEG
4032 x 3024, JPG and RAW
1280 x 720
ISO 100-3200, ISO auto (200-1600)
1/4000 sec
60 sec
EV 0-18 ( ISO 100 )
32 F
104 F
optical (image sensor shift mechanism)
Micro Four Thirds
3 frames per second
I attached my Barlow lens (100 mm length, 75 mm focal length) made by Celestron, to my T-Ring adaptor
but when I mounted my camera to it, the focal length was long enough that I could not get the moon or sun to
come into focus, even after the focus knobs were brought all the way in. Typically these adaptors are
universal, but they did not work with my camera partly due to its crop factor. I disassembled some other
adaptors and lenses I had purchased and improvised an attachment consisting of a micro 4/3 T-ring adaptor
holding a ring from another eyepiece in place with a thumb-screw, with a Barlow lens threaded to the ring.
The new shortened assembly (55 mm) allowed for a shorter focal length so I was able to get focused images
of the two bodies. Figure 11 below shows the original (left) and modified (right) T-ring/Barlow assemblies.
= 650
Barlow Magnification = 2x
Diagonal of Camera Sensor = 132 + 17.32 = 23.8388 mm
650 2
23.8388
54.53294629
So the magnification of RSOSTASH using a 2x Barlow lens is approximately 54x. Since I shortened the Barlow
tube a little it would likely be closer to 60x.
2.4.1 Resolution
The spatial resolution represents the theoretical best resolution a system can achieve and is found using an
extension of the Rayleigh Criterion Angular Resolution Equation (shown below):
= 1.22
h = height of target
= wavelength of light, for the sake of my calculations, I will use the mid-range visible wavelength of
.5 m
D = Diameter of aperture = 130 mm
The table below shows the theoretical best resolution of the Nextstar 130 SLT for a variety of targets:
Target
ISS
Targets at LEO
Targets at MEO
Targets at GEO
Moon
Sun
Seasat
Falcon 9 Rocket
USA 179 Rocket
Height
400 km
160 km
2000 km
35,786 km
384,400 km
149,600,000 km
1032.2 km
3626.1 km
10615.1 km
Best Resolution
1.8769 m
.7508 m
9.3846 m
167.9189 m
1801.8462 m
701,910.3885 m
4.84339 m
17.01474903 m
49.80923373 m
Plugging in values,
=
25
= .458438
54.53294629
The linear resolution formula shown below can be used to approximate linear resolution for different targets:
Height
400 km
160 km
2000 km
35,786 km
384,400 km
149,600,000 km
1032.2 km
3626.1 km
10615.1 km
Best Resolution
3.2 m
1.28 m
16.0028 m
286.338933 m
3257.819389 m
1,267,871.437 m
8.7479 m
30.7315 m
89.9638 m
4. PROCEDURE
The following procedure was used on days of collects (CT = collect time):
1) First thing in the morning Check Calsky to see if the satellite maneuvered, or if the transit
time/location had changed.
2) CT 2 hours - Check Wunderground to see if the weather is going to cooperate.
3) CT 1.5 hours Move telescope out to the collect area so the mirrors can warm/cool as
necessary. Run extension cord out to collect site.
4) CT 1.25 hours Check the camera battery pack for a charge. If low begin charging.
5) CT 1.25 hours Gently blow dust off of telescope, lenses, and mirrors with a compressor.
6) CT 1 hour First light for the collect turn on the telescope, center it on whichever celestial
body I am shooting and perform a solar system alignment procedure. Sometimes I could not
select the Sun as the alignment body so I had to go back to the main menu and turn on Sun
options.
7) CT 45 mins Print out the Calsky report for the transit.
8) CT 30 mins Take the Calsky report and charged camera battery out to the collect site and
begin getting some calibration collects, to verify the system is focused, and in working order,
telescope aligned, and that lighting is correct.
9) CT 1 minute Begin recording video
10) Post CT Watch video and search transit quadrant for transiting body.
11) Post CT Clean up video and post it.
5. CHALLENGES
Astronomers and astrophotographers face a variety of challenges including tuning and optimization of the
remote sensing system, weather related problems like cloud cover and astronomical seeing effects, and
specifically in the case of those interested in imaging satellite transits, the somewhat unpredictable nature of
satellites due to maneuvers and/or inaccurate or aging element sets.
5.1 SYSTEM SETUP/TUNING
Though I had minor problems adjusting the telescope slew rate, the biggest hardware problem I had was
simply getting the T-ring adaptor and Barlow lens assembly focal length short enough for imaging of the
moon and sun. The details and mitigation of this problem are detailed above in section 2.2.1.
AstronimcalSeeing.wmv
Figure 12. Astronomical Seeing Effects on 11.19.15
6. TARGET RSOs
As mentioned in the Software and Utilities section above, target RSOs were selected using Calskys [6]
Lunar and Solar Disk Crossing and Occultations by Large Satellites Propagator. The viewing times/angles
are calculated using my home LAT/LON position. Only satellites than can reach an angular size of at least
1"/4" (level astronomer/hobby) at perigee are taken into account. The quality of the predictions depends
strongly on those of the orbital elements used - the further the calculated event is in the future, the more the
predicted path will shift from the true satellite track. Hence, check the predictions again shortly before the
event takes place. The data is experimental (with the exception of ISS). I made arrangements to film all
transits occurring between 11.20.15 - 12.5.15.
Transit Duration
Dimensions:
Brightness:
RCS:
USSPACECOM Nr:
Orbit:
Age Elements:
Azimuth Direction:
Altitude:
Right Ascension:
Declination:
Moon Position:
Figure 13. Calsky Seasat Propagation Model (After Element Set Update) Showing Transit As Seen In Newtonian Reflector
(Upside Down)
Transit Duration
Dimensions:
Brightness:
RCS:
USSPACECOM Nr:
Orbit:
Age Elements:
Azimuth Direction:
Altitude:
Right Ascension:
Declination:
Sun Position:
Figure 14. Calsky Falcon 9 Propagation Model Showing Transit As Seen In Newtonian Reflector (Upside Down)
Transit Duration
Dimensions:
Brightness:
RCS:
USSPACECOM Nr:
Orbit:
Age Elements:
Azimuth Direction:
Altitude:
Right Ascension:
Declination:
Sun Position:
Figure 15. Calsky USA 179 Propagation Model Showing Transit As Seen In Newtonian Reflector (Upside Down)
7. COLLECTS
The following images were captured during a series of testing, calibration, and collect phases.
Figure 18. Solar event image from 11.23, while attempting to capture Falcon 9 rocket debris
8. MOVING FORWARD
I intend to collect on ISS on 12.26.15 as it transits the sun. Obviously due to its size and low altitude,
I should be able to get some great imagery/video there.
I just purchased a 3x Barlow lens. That should give me a little more success shooting the smaller
stuff.
I plan on spending some more time researching filters that would bring to focus transiting satellites
against the Sun and the Moon.
I have found many ways to hack DSLR cameras to get IR or near-IR imagery fairly cheaply. I am
hoping to throw together an IR solution in the next year or so.
Hopefully I will have more time and better weather this summer for transit collects.
It is very difficult to focus using my cameras 2.7 inch screen. Olympus offers a viewfinder for sale
for about $80 that will make focusing much easier.
Dark current and closed-lid calibration would be an interesting an possibly useful evolution.
9. CONCLUSION
Though I failed to get imagery of a single satellite transit, due to
weather, poor timing, and bad luck, I feel that the RSOSTASH system
was a success, or least will be, for larger LEO collects.
Utilizing COTS components, and all for the price of $800, RSOSTASH is
capable of an 8 meters resolution for target altitudes of 1000 km. There
are many potential collect candidates with altitudes or sizes conductive
to gathering images. The future additions of a 3x Barlow lens, an
infrared/near infrared camera, a camera viewfinder, and better
calibration, will enhance the capabilities of the system greatly for
another $150 - $200.
As I mentioned in section 9 above, the International Space Station will
transit the sun on 12.26.15. With a size of 109 m x 73 m, Im hoping to
get a 30 pixel x 25 pixel representation of it, if the weather cooperates,
that is. I will always be at the mercy of cloud cover, maneuvering
satellites, and old element sets, but the capabilities and more
importantly person enjoyment of a home-based remote sensing system
for transiting satellites are certainly worth the price.
10. TERMS
Aperture - The diameter of the telescopes mirror or lens. This is the single most important factor
determining how much you can see with your telescope. In general, the bigger the telescopes aperture
the better! A bigger scope will let in more light (meaning your eyes can see faint objects better).
Astronomical seeing - The blurring and twinkling of astronomical objects such as stars caused by
turbulent mixing in the Earth's atmosphere varying the optical refractive index.
Barlow lens - A negative (diverging) lens that is placed between the objective lens or primary mirror and
the eyepiece of a telescope. It increases the effective focal length of an objective lens, thereby increasing
the magnification.
DSLR - A digital single-lens reflex camera (also called a digital SLR or DSLR) is a digital camera combining
the optics and the mechanisms of a single-lens reflex camera with a digital imaging sensor, as opposed to
photographic film. The reflex design scheme is the primary difference between a DSLR and other digital
cameras.
F# - F-number (sometimes called focal ratio, f-ratio, f-stop, or relative aperture) of an optical system is
the ratio of the lens's focal length to the diameter of the entrance pupil. It is a dimensionless number that
is a quantitative measure of lens speed, and an important concept in photography. The number is
commonly notated using a hooked f, i.e. f/N, where N is the f-number.
Field of View - The extent of the observable world that is seen at any given moment. In case of optical
instruments or sensors it is a solid angle through which a detector is sensitive to electromagnetic
radiation.
Focal Length - The distance from the focal point of your telescope to the lens or mirror. This is not as
important as aperture for getting the best image quality. In general though, the longer the focal length, the
more magnified objects will appear, which is desirable. So keep an eye on this.
Magnification - Is determined by telescopes focal length (see above) and your eyepieces focal length.
MOS Metal Oxide Semiconductor, type of sensor used by the Olympus PEN EPL-1
Resolution - Angular resolution or spatial resolution describes the ability of any image-forming device
such as an optical or radio telescope, a microscope, a camera, or an eye, to distinguish small details of an
object, thereby making it a major determinant of image resolution.
REFERENCES
1.
2.
"Nexstar 130SLT Computerized Telescope." Celestron.com, 25 September 2014. Web. 2 Dec 2015.
<http://www.celestron.com/browse-shop/astronomy/telescopes/nexstar-130slt-computerizedtelescope>
3.
Blarmingscience. "How to make a solar filter for your telescope." Online video clip.
YouTube. YouTube, 22 Mar. 2014. < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONgXeqhNr6k>
4.
Tonkin, Stephen. "Barlow Lenses astunit.com, 04 Aug 2004. Web. 30 Nov 2015.
http://astunit.com/astunit_tutorial.php?topic=barlow
5.
6.
"Lunar/Solar Disk Crossings and Occultations by Larger Satellites. calsky.com, Web. 20 Nov 2015.
https://www.calsky.com/cs.cgi
7.
Pratt, W. K. [2001]. Digital Image Processing, 3rd ed., Wiley Interscience, NY.
8.
Schott, J. R. 2007. Remote sensing: the image chain approach. 2nd ed. New York, NY, USA Oxford
University Press. 688.