The Hunt For Cicadas / ISS Endeavor Double Flyby

The past few days have been exceptionally busy. Beginning with Sunday morning, I headed out to document the Great Southern Brood of periodical cicadas that are emerging across all of down state Illinois. Not that it is a big deal but for obvious reasons when it comes to my list of things to shoot close up, 13 or 17 year cicadas aren't the easiest subject to come by. The last time I saw them was in Pennsylvania during the late 80's. The infestation across South Central PA was akin to a biblical plague. With this in mind and upon hearing reports of heavy concentrations around South Central IL, it would figure that the location I chose to look for them had none (or so I thought). Satisfied with obtaining several keeper shots unrelated to the mission, a lone cicada literally dropped on the ground in front of me as I was leaving out. I still intend to find some of the higher concentrations before the hatch peaks in the next few days.



Northern Water Snake (adult)


Northern Water Snake (juvenile)






Black Rat Snake (juvenile)


Docile in nature, this one had no problem with me being all up in its face.


Success!


Per the second part of this post, early Monday morning I received an email notification courtesy of Spaceweather.com that a double flyby of the International Space Station and Space Shuttle Endeavor was imminent. I had already planned on shooting for the ISS as the shuttle had been docked to it and weather conditions were ideal. The intent was to shoot many exposures to capture star trails along with having these two entities eventually glide through. Double flyby opportunities when parting vehicles can be seen in tandem are rare so I gambled on trying for a shot that I was almost positive I would screw up. With star trails, once you begin shooting you cannot stop or reposition or the sequence will be ruined. Right on cue at 3:48AM CDT both spacecraft drifted across the sky brighter than any star and were easy to discern. They were also traveling exceptionally fast, canvassing the horizon in about two minutes. My fear was that the trail would cut off either entering or exiting frame and have huge a gap because of the slow buffer on my 300D between clicks. Fortunately, the one shot that needed to work stayed in frame so I was more than relieved. The first image is one I prepared for the web and then decided to pass along to Greg Trumbold at WAND TV who was able to include it in his morning broadcast. I figured people just waking up might appreciate seeing a bit of history to occur while they were asleep. This was Endeavor's final flight and the second to last shuttle mission before the program comes to an end later this year.



The following image is a 29.5 minute stack with the lens barrel effect removed so to straighten the lines. I'll definitely be doing some prints of this one minus the inset.


Screenshot, didn't think it would be on TV let alone that I would happen to catch it.


And finally from this morning, 14 minute stack with another pass. Not as bright due to lower angle placing them at greater distance but still visible. Just a few more orbits left as the shuttle is expected to land Wednesday. Not an ideal shot due to light pollution and power lines but the fireflies were a nice touch.