Tyger Tyger: A Surprise in LEO

 

The morning of November 17, 2020 at 5:48 a.m. EST, this image landed on my camera sensor. I say "landed"  since I didn’t expect it, unlike the meteors in Leo that I wanted to photograph. In fact, after setting up my camera on a tripod on the crunchy frosty grass of my backyard some two hours prior in the hope of capturing a Leonid meteor or two, I was back in my bed warm, cozy and asleep as the camera clicked away until dawn.

A morning scan revealed this unexpected glint right in the middle of the constellation of Leo. I was later able to identify the object based on the capture time and trajectory compared with known satellite transits.  It was the now defunct earth observation satellite, Envisat,  that was launched by European Space Agency (ESA) in 2002. 

The Envisat mission was concluded in 2012 when it lost contact with the earth, five years after its planned end of life. This school bus sized satellite weighing 8 tons is the largest civilian satellite ever. Five hundred miles above the surface in low earth orbit (or LEO) this piece of zombie tech will continue to orbit the earth for over 100 more years before burning through the atmosphere much like a meteor.   

Now for the Leonids.

It was the second meteor shower I photographed, but my first with multiple meteors on a single night (hence approaching a "shower").  The image below is a composite of three frames captured at different points in time. The frames have been aligned to correct for sky rotation . The streaks in the final image trace back to the radiant in the constellation of Leo, as they should.  

The Leonids caused by the earth running into the debris of the comet Tempel-Tuttel are among the fastest meteor showers. Blazing through the atmosphere some 50 miles above the earth at 157,000 miles/hour, twice as fast as the Geminids in early December, the typical bright meteor weighs under a gram and is no larger than a pea. As with my Lyrids capture earlier this year, each streak seen up close shows a hint of red/yellow/green coloration distinct from the monochrome satellite flare.  

Perhaps the British poet William Blake had this fiery scene in his mind when he wrote his famous poem "The Tyger" : 

"...When the stars threw down their spears 

And water'd heaven with their tears: 

Did he smile his work to see?

Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger Tyger burning bright, In the forests of the night: 
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?.."