Instagram user and astrophotographer extraordinaire, Andrew McCarthy (aka @cosmic_background) released what has to be our favorite Instagram Reel of the week. Even before all the cute and funny dog videos that seem to dominate my news feed…
The reel in question depicts the historic launch of the SpaceX Starship 5 flight test, which launched on October 13 and will be immortalized in the annals of history as the first booster rocket to be “caught” on its return to Earth. Andrew’s video, which you can see below, provides an unprecedented view of the proceedings.
He rented a $17,000 lens to capture the action from a whopping 5 miles away, and tracked the spacecraft’s flight as it reached an altitude of 50 miles. But even more impressive is the fact that he said: “Every frame of the video is manually tracked and manually stabilized.”
The video depicts the spacecraft lifting off from the launch pad, piercing Earth’s atmosphere, separating the super-heavy booster, firing its boosters to slow its descent back to Earth, and finally the historic capture of the launch pad.
The historical “catch” is almost obscured as someone jumps in front of the camera – likely for joy – at what could have been an absolute tragedy. Fortunately, Andrew kept calm, managed not to panic and captured the climactic moment anyway.
At one point in the video, the astrophotographer admitted that he added more pieces as the booster separated, due to tracking difficulties. But from my point of view, the entire video is no less Jaw dropping.
If that wasn’t enough, Andrew also posted an impressive composite image, depicting each key stage of the launch. Finally, it’s a massive 280-megapixel photo and is available to order via the link in his Instagram bio. Instead, he also has a lot of even star prints on his body Website.
If you’re an astrophotography enthusiast, be sure to follow along with our October astrophotography guide. I’ve also posted a guide explaining how you can get an image of Comet Tsuchenshan-Atlas tonight before it disappears for 80,000 years.
For more galactic goodness, check out the best camera for astrophotography and the best star tracking camera holders.
