With the forecast calling for cloudy skies the rest of the week it looked like today would be the only day to capture some sun spots that are rotating into view. So I set up a brief window astronomy session, mainly to try and mitigate the pollen collection on my equipment.
Date and time of capture: 22 March 2021 15:45:15 UTC
Camera: ZWO ASI174MM
Lens: Canon EF 100-400MM L IS II USM
Focal length: 400mm
Filter: Astrozap BAADER AstroSolar and Optolong L-Extreme
Exposure: 5ms
Frame rate: 177fps
Capture software: ZWO ASICap
As luck would have it as soon as I pressed the record button something began transiting across the sun. It could be a high flying bird but the speed also matches a low earth orbiting satellite. So far I have not been able to locate a candidate satellite so what this was remains a mystery.
Actual speed and 25% speed (expand to full screen for a better view)
Did I mention there is a lot of pollen right now! There won’t be much astrophotography taking place until this subsides in a couple weeks.
