[19th LA Inf]

Your satellite photo brought back memories. In 1957, before the USA had launched a satellite, there was a program for amateur astronomers to take time exposures of Sputnik 2. The satellite trails against the background of stars were to be used to help calculate the orbit (so we were told). Track information was broadcast by shortwave radio, and the camera was supposed to be set up over a CGS benchmark, with the lens blocked briefly at a time hack from WWV. High tech for the fifties! I took my first one in January 1958 from the top of an oil storage tank in south Arkansas with the company 4 x 5 Speed Graphic on a tripod and loaded with Tri-X film. My boss must have told everyone he knew, and I got calls for weeks afterward from people wanting to know when they could see the thing.

Now I have a place out in the country with fairly dark skies, and I still get out once in a while to watch. My best sighting was once when I actually saw two fairly dim satellites cross paths simulatneously in the field of my 7 x 50 binoculars. Space is getting too crowded.

[Inyo-Mono]

That’s great! I was only 7 years-old back in 1957 but I remember my Dad taking me out in the backyard to see Sputnik. He was a pro-photographer then, and I still have his old Speed Graphic cameras.

[JoJo Gunn]

Assuming you haven’t seen it already,(?) you might like this site:

http://www.graflex.org/

I admit to being at a loss for “a CGS benchmark”. Was that a Coast Guard Station?

Those satellites you saw cross paths might have had 20 miles of height between them, who knows? But I agree it’s crowded up there. I’ve also seen a few cross paths. (I saw a couple of jet trails “converge” last fall. A strange feeling).

The mention of WWV and covering the lens for a moment reminded me of when I was reading about Apollo 13 a few years back, and found a site where I learned a few observatories, and amateurs, liked to follow the Apollo’s even headed towards the moon. On this link there’s mention of tracking a tumbling booster and covering the lens for timing purposes.

http://www.astr.ua.edu/keel/space/apollo.html