Another rocket (and a comet)

2026/04/14. SpaceX tried to slip one by me. And damn near succeeded. This launch was scheduled for 3:18 AM or so, but got pushed back by one orbit into really perfect lighting. I screwed up by going down to the community docks to see it coming from farther south (that part worked) and to admire it over the lake (not so much). Let's try these in elegant black and white.

The first frame is about 4:20 into flight. The next is 1:30 after that, just as the plume begins to catch morning light. And the final frame is about 30s later.

Those are all made from the floating docks at the community lot. The view nearly due south of the approaching rocket is nice, but it pains me to think of the view of the "space jellyfish" I missed but could have had from my usual perch up top. Other locations beckon the next time the timing is right.

While waiting for the rocket, I tried anopther photo of Comet PANSTARRS 2025 R3 cruising across Pegasus. This time I used 100 half-second exposures (F1.4, ISO 6400) with no guiding, no tracking -- just a camera on a tripod. I aligned and stacked the frames in PixInsight:

All photos on this page were made with the 105mm F1.4 Sigma on the Canon R6. The first rocket image was 1/2 second; the other two were 1/20 second at ISO 6400.

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