How I captured the Hubble Space Telescope in the night sky

 

As I was browsing Facebook during the lockdown, I came across a post by the Nepal Astronomical Society (NASO) that caught my eye. It was about the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) passing over Nepal and how to track it online. I was intrigued by the idea of seeing this amazing piece of technology that has been orbiting the Earth for over three decades and has given us stunning images of the universe.

I decided to give it a try and set up my Canon EOS 250D with an 18-55mm STM lens on a tripod. I also used my phone to follow the HST’s trajectory on the NASO website. I called my brother Nurap Karki to join me in this adventure and explained to him how to spot the HST in the sky.

We waited patiently for the right moment, but we were getting frustrated as the time was running out and we couldn’t see anything in the western direction. The light pollution from the city of Kathmandu was making it hard to see the stars. But then, just as we were about to give up, we saw a bright dot moving fast across the sky. It was the HST!

I quickly grabbed the tripod and aimed the camera at the moving dot. I hoped that the camera settings were good enough to capture it. I had set the ISO to 400, the focal length to 18mm, the aperture to f/4.0, and the exposure time to 15 seconds. I pressed the shutter button and prayed that the focus was right. I knew I had only one chance to get this shot.

To my delight, the camera did its job and captured the HST’s trail in the night sky. It was not a perfect shot, but it was a beautiful one. I wished I had more time to adjust the settings and the focus, but I was happy with what I got. It was a close call, but we made it. It was a wonderful experience and I am glad to share it with you. I have attached the image that I edited with Adobe Photoshop to make the HST more visible.

I hope you enjoyed this story and learned something new. If you want to see more of my photos and stories, please follow my blog. Thank you.