I went out to the Range for a tracking mission two weeks ago. I arrived the
night before our mission and, after dinner, drove out to San Augustine Pass
with my battered, old OM-1N (in its beautiful new Morgan Sparks red mark
lizard!).
I knew that a Terrier-Orion sounding rocket launch was scheduled sometime
between 20:50 and 21:50 by the published times for the road blocks on US
Highway 70, which crosses the Range joining Las Cruces and Alamagordo. I set
up my tripod behind the porta-potties just east of the summit and waited.
When westbound traffic ceased, I began making timed two-minute exposures using
the audible alarm on my wrist watch. I was about to close the shutter on the
seventh exposure and wind to the next frame when I saw the ignition flash below
me in the valley. I had not been certain where the launch site was as I set up
in the dark, but I had centered a flashing red light (a sign of ordnance on the
pad) at about where I though the launcher was. I watched with the cable
release in my hand as a Venus-bright star rose vertically into the sky and then
winked out. Some seconds later the second stage ignited and the star-bight
point of light continued to far above me. After the light winked out a second
time, I could still follow a dull red glowing point by craning my neck back. I
closed the shutter.
Here is the result: http://flightpixels.com/TerrierOrion3.jpg
I am not yet happy with the scan but you get the idea. There are several
interesting points to note. The exposure is perhaps three minutes at f/8 with
a Zuiko 35/2.8 silver-nose on Provia 100F. The star trails are much more
brightly colored than one's perception - a typical result. They are also
longer than I would have guessed for three minutes. You can see that the
camera was steady and the lens is sharp because the star trails are crisp, but
the overexposure of many fixed lights on the ground with wind or dust produced
oddly shaped white blotches. Also, my perception was that the vehicle ascended
essentially vertically. From the image you can see that the trajectory was
significantly inclined to the north. This is necessary to place the impact in
a safe area north and west of Holloman AFB.
If I get another chance, I'll use a slightly wider lens, say a 24, oriented
vertically (now that I know the launch position) and stop down one stop. I
welcome suggestions for scanning and processing the image.
regards,
Gary Edwards
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Win a $20,000 Career Makeover at Yahoo! HotJobs
The olympus mailinglist olympus@xxxxxxxxxx
To unsubscribe: mailto:olympus-request@xxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe
To contact the list admins: mailto:olympusadmin@xxxxxxxxxx?subject="Olympus
List Problem"
|
