ESA’s Sentinel-2C satellite imaged – 5 Sept. 2024
Less than 24 hours after its launch, we imaged the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2C satellite, under difficult conditions. Here it is our picture.
Sentinel-2C satellite. 5 Sept. 2024.
The image above comes from the average of five, 2-second exposures, remotely taken with the ARTEC250+Paramount ME+C3Pro61000EC robotic unit available as part of the Virtual Telescope Project facility in Manciano, Italy. The telescope tracked Sentinel-2C while imaging.
Capturing the satellite was a demanding task: it was moving very fast (0.2 degree/s) and was very low (<7 degrees) above the western horizon. Despite this, the 250mm unit part of our robotic facility succeeded imaging the target as a very sharp dot of light, just a couple of minutes after it left the Earth’s shadow. It was at about 2600 km from our telescopes and about 790km above the Earth surface, accordingly to the available TLEs.
The sky quality of the observing site in Manciano, the darkest one on the Italian peninsula, helped significantly to succeed in this effort.
For the record, this launch was the last one made using the Vega rocket, before it will be succeeded by Vega C.
To learn more about Sentinel-2C, part of the Copernicus program, please check the ESA’s press release.
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