Semester update & recap, last part!
At the start of the semester, one of our members accidentally caught a very peculiar satellite trail while photographing M51, with sharp, regular spikes in brightness. Using the observation data, we identified it as Ajisai, a Japanese geodetic science satellite launched in 1986! “Geodetic” means it’s used to measure the Earth’s shape, position, and movements over time. Ajisai is a passive 2.15 m sphere covered in mirrors and prisms that reflect laser pulses from the ground (basically a giant disco ball in space) helping update nautical charts, track tectonic plates, and refine Earth’s reference frame. Still up there at 1,500 km altitude, and still spinning after almost 40 years!
From the timing and brightness data, we were able to produce a light curve of the satellite and estimate its rotation period at 2.56 seconds, just 0.26 seconds off from the latest published value, which is pretty amazing! A few days later, we spotted it again, this time in conjunction with a Starlink satellite.
On June 16th, we pointed our telescope towards the geostationary arc and spotted the RADUGA 1M-2 satellite, a Russian military telecommunications satellite, now in a graveyard orbit. We filmed it for 18 minutes and tracked its brightness over time. The oscillations clearly show that it’s rotating, which actually indicates that it’s inactive. From our data, we estimated a rotation period of around 3 minutes, but this still needs to be confirmed, since a slower rotation couldn’t have been detected in just an 18-minute observation. We also compared our light curves with those from a professional SSA company and could clearly see the same features, which is a great confirmation that our measurements are reasonably reliable!
Throughout the semester, we also took the opportunity to do a bit of astrophotography. M81, the Bode’s Galaxy, is shown in the first image of this post, and the North America Nebula in the last one.
Thanks to all SSA members for this semester, see you next semester!
Semester update & recap, part 2/3 !
At the start of last fall semester, we had a little accident with the mount of our large telescope, LOST. It had to go to a specialized shop for repairs, and after a few months of waiting… LOST is finally back in action! We’ve taken it out several times since, and honestly, what an incredible toy!
This semester was also an opportunity to work on the collimation of our telescopes, which had drifted from perfection over time. Several techniques were introduced and tested by our members, including a laser with a target, and a homemade mount to use a phone camera connected to a PC. As a result, the collimation and the images were greatly improved!
On June 26th and 27th, we had the chance to present our activities and projects at the Space Community Days and during the 50th anniversary ceremony of ESA, held at EPFL, alongside Callista and other student associations. We were given a beautiful personalized booth featuring our colors and logo, and it was also a chance to talk with the different guests, exchange ideas, and make some useful contacts for the future.
Stay tuned for last part!
Semester update & recap, part 1/3 !
On February 27th, we had the great joy and honor of welcoming Swiss professor and astronaut Claude Nicollier to present our projects and discuss them with him. It was also an opportunity to hear, for some of us for the first time, his incredible adventures during the repairs of the Hubble Space Telescope. We were able to share our passion for space and astronomy together, thank you again, Claude!
This semester, we took on a semester project that continues our work on the astronomical dome to house LOST, our biggest telescope. Gaël Couturier, a master’s student in civil engineering and supervised by one of our SSA student members, designed a new hexagonal wooden dome for us. This new design fixes several safety, waterproofing, and structural issues we faced when building the first dome prototype. But because of its size and complex structure, it also brings new challenges. We’re excited to keep pushing this project forward.
Finally, telescope observations and training new members to use them went on throughout the semester, huge thanks to them for their dedication!
Stay tuned for part 2/3 !
Happy 2025 ! From us to you : our very first tracking from this winter and a brief recap of the last months.
On December 16th we achieved our very first and quite successful satellite tracking !
From earlier this semester on November 14th, after the Space, Science and Technology event, we captured a beautiful picture of the galaxy Andromeda accompanied by M110 on its right.
Finally, on January 7th, two team members attended the Swiss Space Sustainability Days in Les Diablerets, organized by eSpace, where they presented a poster highlighting the team’s goals and activities. It was a great chance to grow the team’s network.
Let this new year be successful and filled up with more exciting projects !
It’s a new season for the SSA team! As we captured our very first shot of geostationary satellites, our telescope operators team had their first workshop, sharpening their knowledge about our equipment! 🔭
A huge thanks to Aurélien, who built the perfect cart for our telescope POET! (slide 5)
@ssaepflteam tried to identify the object in @smartereveryday ’s video and came to the conclusion that if this was indeed a space object, the most likely object was a debris (SL-18 DEB). 🛰️🗑️
Using Destin’s position in Jackson Missouri and the time (approximately C3, the time at which the sun exits the moons shadow) and the historical TLEs from April 8th propagated to 19:02:22 UTC, we computed that SL-18 DEB (NORAD 22599) was in the vicinity. The streak represents the displacement of the object over 5 seconds.
The direction seems to match the object observed in the video, it is slightly offset to the left compared to the footage, which could be due to the error on the TLE.
#smartereveryday #eclipse #eclipsevideo #satellite #debris #spacedebris
What you can find above EPFL ✨🔭
We tested the limits of our telescope to track satellites 🛰️, and finished the night with this nice picture of the Rosette nebula 😍
On the top of its beauty, this image tells us about the gaseous composition of the nebula. The orange parts are mostly hydrogen and sulfur, while the blue parts are mostly oxygen!
We took this picture with our small testing telescope, using @callistaepfl and our optical filters.
If you're interested in telescopes, satellites, or sustainability, come join us and help to make space safer and more open!
3x180 Ha, 3x180 OIII, 3x180 SII
Un grand merci à celles et ceux qui sont venus à notre activité astrophoto de mercredi ! Nous espérons que vous avez passé une bonne soirée en notre compagnie et nous vous donnons rendez-vous pour d’autres activités toutes aussi fantastiques !
À la prochaine :)
Collaboration ✨ :
@callistaepfl , @clubphotoepfl , et @ssaepflteam
Crédits photos 📸 :
Images Lune et Jupiter : @ssaepflteam
Images satellites : @dbdaburon_florent et @kam064
Remerciements à @chocopoly_epfl pour leur chaleureuse présence ! ☕
Viens apprendre à photographier les objets célestes et profite de la conjonction entre la Lune et Jupiter pour immortaliser cet événement rare !
À l’occasion de la semaine de L’astronomie, le Club Photo EPFL s’associe avec Callista pour une initiation à l’astrophotographie le mercredi 13 mars.
Nous te donnons rendez-vous à 18h30 en CE5 pour un cours sur les bases de l’astrophotographie ainsi qu’une démonstration du montage d’un télescope. Ensuite, l’atelier se déroulera à l’Agora, Pl. Cosandey à 19h si la météo le permet (reste informé via nos réseaux).
À mercredi !
📸@astrowild.photography
Debris from the Chinese rocket used to deliver a module of the Tiangong space station fell into the pacific ocean this Friday. Among that debris, is the 23-ton heavy rocket body. Multiple airspaces were closed in prevention. 🚀
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#rocket #rocketbody #debris #spacedebris #danger #reentry #crash #pacificocean #orbit #spacestation #china #airspace #closure #ssa #ssaepflteam
