

Observing spy satellites using consumer hardware - codelizard42
http://home.online.nl/marco.langbroek/satcam.html

======
sandworm
I don't have the equipment to track or photograph them, but I do follow these
guys. It's fun to look up and see a multi-billion dollar "classified" object
whipping by. Some of them (lacrosse) are almost recognizable with the naked
eye. They have specific colours.

A bit nerdy, but being able to accurately predict a 'shooting star' can be a
great party trick.

[http://www.heavens-above.com/](http://www.heavens-above.com/)

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BuildTheRobots
> The station uses off-the-shelf photographic equipment: a Canon EOS 450D
> DSLR, used with an EF 50/2.5 Macro lens for satellites in Low Earth Orbit,
> and an EF 100/2.8 Macro USM lens for high altitude objects (objects in a
> Molniya orbit).

This is no doubt a stupid question, but I thought Macro lenses were used
specifically for photographing subjects that are extremely close to the lens.
Objects in space seem to be the definition of far away [1], so could someone
explain what I'm missing, please?

[1] small vs far away:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS12p0Zqlt0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS12p0Zqlt0)

edit: greatest of thanks for the replies -makes perfect sense :)

~~~
maxerickson
It can probably be set to focus on infinity. The reason to use a macro lens
would be the field of view (since they don't offer much magnification, the
field of view will be maximized).

~~~
zokier
> The reason to use a macro lens would be the field of view (since they don't
> offer much magnification, the field of view will be maximized).

Doesn't sound right to me. Is the field of view of 100mm "regular" (non-macro)
and 100mm macro objective really different for distant objects? Can someone
explain how that works out?

~~~
maxerickson
My phrasing is likely poor, but the part about not wanting magnification to
maximize field of view should be fine.

(Then I guess things like price and distortion would guide the choice from
there)

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pjotrligthart
Hey, someone else here knows Langbroek! His work and writing on tracking US
reconnaissance satellites is very interesting, I'm wishing more people here
follow it in the near future!

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0x0
This article is only talking about some "internet biijl je wjiit hurf durf
€29.95"? Is it appropriate to flag this spam link?

~~~
tzs
Yes, it should be flagged, or a moderator should change the link to the
archive.today link given elsewhere in the HN comments. It was fine when it was
submitted, but now it is broken.

On Safari, every time I follow the link I get to the page the submitter
intended--an interesting page, in English, about satellite tracking with not
one hint of monetization (except a box with some weather information for the
site's location and a link to the service providing that...it's possible that
this counts as an ad).

On Chrome, however, I see what 0x0 seems to be seeing: the front page of
online.nl, which is in Dutch. They appear to be an ISP, phone, and TV provider
and the front page is trying to sell various plans.

I also see that on Safari if I hit refresh on the interesting satellite page.

On Firefox, I get the same result as on Chrome. All of these are on a Mac.

On Safari, I have AdBlock Plus, but I get the same behavior regardless of
whether it is enabled or disabled or the site.

Asking for the link submitted here with curl gives this:

    
    
       <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN">
       <HTML><HEAD>
       <TITLE>302 Found</TITLE>
       </HEAD><BODY>
       <H1>Found</H1>
       The document has moved <A HREF="https://www.online.nl/403">here</A>.<P>
       </BODY></HTML>
    

I took a look with tcpdump at what is happening on Safari, and I see why I'm
able to see the right page in Safari. It's cached, and the site is returning a
"304 Not Modified". Clearing my cache makes Safari behave like the other
browsers.

------
serf
Link now redirecting to a landing page for online.nl.

~~~
simondelacourt
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:rr5IWu_...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:rr5IWu_YjpMJ:home.online.nl/marco.langbroek/satcam.html+&cd=1&hl=nl&ct=clnk&gl=nl)

~~~
codelizard42
_sigh_ I figured something like this would happen, considering it's being
hosted on fairly small-bandwidth webspace. I fed the link to archive.today
before I posted it on here:
[https://archive.today/jqSia](https://archive.today/jqSia)

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6stringmerc
Ha! So it is possible!

Personal plug: I wrote a short story concept / film script idea about a
similar idea sometime between 2006 and 2008. Can't exactly recall, but I know
it was in my typewriter phase. Just the idea of watching was neat, but I made
up a structure with a jouranlist and I added a conflict element of an
international incident which justified some suspense and action.

"Watching for the Weird" was the original working title, which eventually
morphed into "Satellite Seeker" and I think it's somewhere out on the 'net. I
know I've got hard copies and scans around. Written under my pen name Vernon
Walter. VernonWalter is also the email address via Google if you'd like to
contact me for a copy or for any other writing related work of mine.

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gscott
I believe this is his new blog
[http://sattrackcam.blogspot.mx/](http://sattrackcam.blogspot.mx/)

