Astrophotography by Anthony Ayiomamitis Astrophotography by Anthony Ayiomamitis

Geostationary Satellite Image Gallery

Roughly 500 geostationary satellites are currently placed in a static orbit (as viewed by a ground-based observer) about our planet at an altitude ranging from 500 to 40,000 kilometers. The closest satellites orbitting the planet are believed to be spy satellites whereas most distant are the geostationary group of satellites with an instrinsic magnitude of 11 or greater. As a result, due to their distance and faint magnitude, geosats may be classified as the DSO's of the satellite world. At their high altitude not only can they virtually view the complete globe below them but they also have the unique characteristic of having their orbital speed closely match the rotational speed of the earth and, as such, give the impression to a ground-based observer of being stationary above the planet. These satellites have a wide range of applications and functions and include remote sensing (Meteosat, GOES-East and GOES-West, GMS etc) and such telecommunication functions as direct broadcast voice and video communications as well as live television coverage (Astra, Hot Bird, Telstar etc) by virtue of the fact they can beam their signal from a "fixed" point in space relative to a ground source.

Note: AfriStar was launched on Oct 28, 1998 from Kourou, French Guyana using an Ariane 44L rocket. It weighs 2.739 tons, features 3 L-transponders and has an expected operational lifetime of fifteen years. The satellite provides digital audio and multi-media services to a very wide audience due to its very wide footprint and which includes Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

Note: The first image below represents a single one-minute exposure whereas the second image below is the sum of the fifteen one-minute exposures captured and which reveals some very slight motion for the four Astra satellites during the approximate 20-minute span and which quite often is characteristic of geosats (ex. due to inclination).

Image Details
Geosat Afristar
Imaging Details
NORAD ID:
25515

Common Name(s):
AfriStar,
AfriStar 1


Int Code:
1998-063A

Location:
21.0° East

Perigee:
35,774.4 km

Apogee:
35,812.1 km

Inclination:
0.4°

Period:
1,436.1 min

Launch Dates:
Oct 28, 1998

Origin:
United States



Date:
Nov 03, 2012
00:52 - 01:13 UT+2


Location:
Athens, Greece

Equipment:
AP 305/f3.8 Riccardi-Honders
AP 1200GTO GEM
SBIG ST-10XME
SBIG CFW10
SBIG LRGB filters


Integrations:
Lum :  15 min (15 x 1 min)
Dark :  10 min (10 x 1 min)
Flat :  ~ 24,100 ADU
Binning :  1x1

Image Scale:
1.21" per pixel

Temperatures:
Ambient : + 18.0 ° C
CCD Chip : - 15.0 ° C

Software:
CCDSoft V5.00.201
CCDStack V1.6.0.5
Photoshop CS5