My token eclipse shot from the recent show we all had ... this is a composite of 5 shots

I know that an eclipse isn't a once-in-a-lifetime event and I know that there are thousands of photos of this eclipse on DeviantArt already, but I just couldn't help posting one myself

It’s not often that a total eclipse happens on such a clear night and at this early in the evening (9PM here) where so many people can still see it without disrupting their sleep schedule (it’s totally worth it even if you did/do have to interrupt your sleep BTW) … I think that the timing and the quality of this eclipse was what will make this time one to remember

So here’s to everyone that got out there and saw this amazing show for themselves, and especially to those who brought their cameras with and even posted a shot or two of the great show, even though we know that they will get lost in the 10,000 other eclipse photos that were submitted that same day … I saw some amazingly good photos of this eclipse on dA – keep it up!

Same rules as the rest of my stock … please send me a link to the finished work so I can check it out/ it and please credit me in your deviation



After a little searching, I found the mysterious and speedy little intruder that made it's way across my eclipse photo ...

It's none other than the very old (in satellite years) Soviet Cosmos 1544 that was launched way back on March 15 1984

One of the cool things I've found out from a little more digging is that this is a "Tselina D" type satellite which is what the Soviet Union used for some of the more detailed radio surveillance for their intelligence community - cool eh?

Just think of all the top 10 hits from the 80's that were relayed from this baby back to those commies! - one hell of an expensive radio antenna if you ask me

I'm sure the USSR was watching and listening to all kinds of countries do all sorts of interesting things back then, but I suppose it's possible that this was designed to spy on the US - the "D" series was very advanced for the day and allowed the USSR to get very detailed information - Cosmos 1544 was one of the first of this series

Sadly, these only had a usable lifespan on the order of 6-9 months ... personally I find it hard to believe that it's worth sending something into space, only to park it into the 'graveyard orbit' less than a year later, but that's government for you

If anyone's bored or interested in cold-war Soviet intelligence trivia, you can find information about the Tselina surveillance satellites here

It's obviously nice and bright and moves fairly fast across the sky - if I remember correctly, I could see this one with just my eyes once it was away from the moon ... not every day you get to look up at a piece of cold-war space junk that's been circling the Earth nonstop for the past 24+ years