Jupiter and Saturn getting closer

 Each day, Jupiter and Saturn are getting closer. The final is foreseen on December 21st. 

INTER-MAI-75 ARISS-SSTV - First Download

My first ever download of images from the International Space Station ISS. The event was organised by ARISS and MAI Moskovskiy Aviatsionniy Institoet (Moscow Aviation Institute) on december 1 and 2, 2020. Due to some issues no signal was made on december 1, so all focus for today, and with succes.

Today, the signal was available from UT11h50-18h25 and anytime the ISS signals could be picked up by an antenna. I used the antenna's connected through WebSDR in the UK, Russia, Belgium and the Netherlands. The signals were send in FM 145800kHz. Decoding was done with MMSSTV software. In order to know when to connect with the WebSDR stations, Heavens-Above was used to locate the position of the ISS. 

Results : in total I could connect 3 times with the ISS and it was possible to make contact through each of the 4 WebSDR stations. Unfortunately I was not able to download any perfect image. I saw this before when connecting with the NOAA satellites via WebSDR. The best result was made with the station @Heppen  which is very close to my homeadress. It could be that due to the short distance of this station to my homelocation, dataloss is minimal. It's amazing that I could connect with the ISS and downloading TV-signals and getting images. The ISS did send 12 images, I could download 4 of them. Interesting was aswell that during my last download I could see ISS live passing above my house :) really cool!

ARISS
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) inspires people and students, worldwide, to pursue interests and careers in science, technology, engineering and math through amateur radio communications opportunities with the International Space Station (ISS) on-orbit crew. 

All software and websites used to make the connection possible are available via my blog : see this link.

NOAA 18 UT9h56 Weather Image

 

Weather picture from NOAA 18 UT9h56 using Websdr Noordwijk (NL). Recording with WXtoIMG and decoding with APTDecoder. Decoding is still needed as allignment keeps failing. Editing using CS4 and DeNoise AI.

Jupiter and Saturn getting closer

 

Sunspot AR2786 with naked eye

This evening during sunset , sunspot AR2786 could be seen with the naked eye. I made also some pictures with my Nikon D7500 and Nikkor lens 18-200 while the sun was setting. This is the first time i could capture sunspots with my regular lens instead of my telescopes.

No Photokina at Cologne anymore!

A press release was send yesterday by Gerald Böse, President and Chief Executive Officer of Koelnmesse that Photokina at Cologne location will be suspended for the time being. It look likes that the world class imaging, video and photography fair after 70 years ends here.

The reason for this descission is made due to the further massive decline in markets for imaging products and "Unfortunately, at present the framework conditions in the industry do not provide a viable basis for the leading international trade fair for photography, video and imaging,".

NOAA18 22112020 UT10h11 Websdr

 

NOAA 18 Weather Image from November 22, 2020, UT10h11. Data from ESA Websdr but without telemetry data. Own composition using WXtoIMG, ATPDecoder, CS4 and final editing using DeNoise AI.