Great and thanks for the plus votes.
I will break the process into two major parts:
1- Observing (locating) these small objects
Since Navid satellite and the second stage of Safir launcher are relatively small, it is a bit tricky to observer them as they are quite dim. The Navid magnitude (a log scale of how bright a celestial object is. Read more at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparent_magnitude) was estimated at 7, which means even under perfect conditions it won't be visible to naked eyes. The second stage of Safir however is much brighter and I estimated its mag to be 3-4 at its max as it flashes quite frequently.
To master locating and following satellite I suggest you start with satellites brighter than mag 0, which are easily visible to naked eye at a reasonably dark location (where you can see Polaris or the big deeper- دب اكبر). The easiest satellite to observe is ISS as it is so bright at mag -4 to -5 that it is hard to miss from anywhere. For these bright satellites you don't need any tool such as binoculars. What you need is when and roughly where in the sky they will show up. For that I advice you to use heavens-above.com to generate a map of satellite path with respect to background stars. This makes seeing them much easier. That site generate maps like these:
In this case, I have mapped the path for ISS for Amsterdam (should be useful for Pasdar) on Feb. 18. As you can see it starts on south-west and goes all the way almost to east, where it enters earth shadow and becomes invisible.
Back to process of observing/photographing Navid and Safir. First try with bright satellites and learn how to use these maps and develop a feel for how fast most of satellites move in the sky and then go to dimmer satellites with mag of about 4. To observe these satellites from urban areas, I suggest using binoculars. Using binoculars to observe satellites means that you should be quite comfortable with binoculars and be able to find a specific star quickly. One easy trick is to look at the map and see if you can find a bright star in the path of the satellite and start observing that star a minute or two (BTW, having a accurately set watch (down to second) with you would be very helpful) and wait for the satellite to pass and follow it from there.
2- Photographing a satellite
Basically, it is the same as astrophotography only it is important to point the DSLR camera to the right location of the sky at the right time. A good lens to start with is a lens with small focal length (e.g. 18 mm) and a small F number (large maximum aperture) for example, 2.8 for this lens:18-55mm
F2.8. The smaller the F number the much more expensive a lens will become. As the F number decrease the aperture increases and hence the amount of light collected by that lens. After you became comfortable with small focal lengths and you had nice shots you can increase the focal length to about 100 mm.
Pasdar, using 300 mm lens would be tricky as you have to point your DSLR very accurately and the satellite will pass over FOV very quickly and usually doesn't give enough light for the DSLR sensor!
For astrophotography guide I suggest these websites:
http://www.scribd.com/full/41186760?access_key=key-gnoflczzrljkxl1qzzdhttp://www.astropix.com/BGDA/SAMPLE1/SAMPLE1.HTMLet me know if you have any question.
BTW, yesterday, I photographed Safir's second stage as it passed next to Polaris. I will post it soon!
Topic: Iran launched third satellite into space: "Navid-e Elm-o-Sanat" (Read 5753 times)