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Caught on camera: Satellite tracker photographs secret spacecraft
- adamredwoods 2y agoI would have read the article, but after a few nag-popups and ads, my laptop fan kicked on, so I closed it. Space.com is one of the few websites I care about that I would like to be a bit more browser-friendly.
- 486sx33 2y agoAdGuard on safari has zero pop ups or nags for me
- binkHN 2y agoFirefox's reading mode is a godsend.
- niij 2y agohttps://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin...
- TacticalCoder 2y ago> ... but after a few nag-popups and ads, my laptop fan kicked on On my Linux I have 12 workspaces or so and my main browser is always on a specific workspace. Then I configured my system to always put the CPU in "powersave" mode when I'm switching to that workspace. Actually all my workspaces besides the one where I do dev are in powersave. Fixes the fan issue. Works for GPUs too (there are tools to configure the max TDP of a GPU: even if approximative, it works). I'm also blocking ads / millions of domains at the DNS (I'm running both unbound and dnsmasq).
- binkHN 2y agoHow does powersave mode help here? All it does is slow everything down when you're in that workspace.
- interludead 2y agoNothing kills the reading mood faster than popups and a struggling laptop fan
- reportgunner 2y agoSomebody photographed a military satelite, not much to see.
- supergeek 2y agoI find this passage quite amusing: "Schöfbänker has also cross-haired with his equipment the "KH-11 Kennen" electro-optical satellites that were first introduced in 1976. "They are somewhat similar to the Hubble Space Telescope, but optimized to look down to Earth, instead of studying space," he said." It's fairly well documented that the Hubble was effectively a US spy satellite pointing towards space, not the other way around. Or at least, it used all of the infrastructure in place to manufacture spy satellites. Same maximum mirror size, same set of contractors/facilities, etc. It had a very different set of sensors, data systems, and focal range, but more or less demonstrated the US's spy satellite capabilities at the time.
- Loughla 2y agoSo that was how long ago? I guess the super zoom satellite footage from movies might not be unrealistic like I thought. . .
- sbierwagen 2y agoThere's a hard physical limit (the Rayleigh criterion) on the resolution of an optical system by how big the open end is. You won't get "super zoom" capabilities without a satellite the size of a stadium. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KH-11_KENNEN#Resolution_and_ground_sample_distance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KH-11_KENNEN#Resolution_and_gr...
- alganet 2y agoWhat about multiple satellites working to get one image? Like the arrays we have on Earth pointing to space, but instead, arrays on space pointing to Earth. I know there probably isn't that many KH-style satellites to do it, but would it be possible?
- GlenTheMachine 2y agoThe alignment has to be better than half a wavelength. That's doable for RF, but for optical telescopes you're talking nanometers. That's not possible (currently or in the foreseeable future) for a spacecraft constellation.
- piombisallow 2y agoI wonder what the satellites think about Mr. Schöfbänker's tracking rig.
- JKCalhoun 2y agoThey can see their reflection in the glass covering the scope's aperture.
- ipv6ipv4 2y agoWhat about Chinese satellites? Somehow, I feel that would be more interesting as there is even less public information about them.
- a_e_k 2y agoFrom the same guy: https://www.space.com/china-space-plane-caught-on-camera https://www.space.com/china-space-plane-caught-on-camera
- avalys 2y agoSpeaking of secret spacecraft - has anything interesting ever been revealed about the “Zuma” satellite, which failed to reach orbit a few years ago? It was supposedly a very expensive, very important program, but so secret that no agency ever admitted to owning it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuma_(satellite) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuma_(satellite)
- fasteddie31003 2y agoI would put my money on a stealth satellite. A modern Misty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misty_(satellite_program) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misty_(satellite_program)
- slicktux 2y agoAnyone else getting a prompt on Safari when visiting the page asking them; “Do you want to download “sync”?” And the only option on prompt being Download… Anyone??
- thelastparadise 2y agoWhy don't you download/run it and tell us what it is.
- slicktux 2y agoI would…but don’t have time right now to go down a rabbit hole…I need sleep. :)
- robinsonrc 2y agoNot seeing it in Safari on iOS at least (although I may have missed it amongst the thousands upon thousands of adverts… I really should look into alternatives again)
- slicktux 2y agoI’m using iOS…I tried again visiting the site and I got the dialog prompt once again…
- relaxing 2y agoYes
- nielsbot 2y agoSame here. Maybe something delivered from an ad?
- salad-tycoon 2y agoYep
- eep_social 2y agoSomething malware-adjacent likely from ads. Maybe related to a company called opkey. Per discussion here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255762946 https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255762946
- zachwilliams588 2y agoThat's no moon, that's a space station!