Amateur Astronomers Spy on Air Force’s Secret Mini Space Plane

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The US Air Force’s unmanned mini space shuttle has been located and tracked in orbit by a contingent of amateur astronomers, and now you can see the X37-B for yourself.

The spaceplane was spotted independently by amateur satellite watchers Greg Roberts of Cape Town, South Africa, and Kevin Fetter of Brockville, Canada, on May 20. Another satellite watcher, Ted Molczan, of Toronto, Canada was then able to calculate the spacecraft’s actual orbit. Then, from that data, Fetter was able to find the X37-B again the following night and photograph it flying across the starry sky. See more images on Spaceweather.com, and this movie of the X37-B in orbit, as seen by Fetter.

Click here to find out use Spaceweather.com’s satellite tracking tool to find out if the X37-B will be flying over your backyard.

They also have an iPhone app.

Spotters say the space plane is about as bright as some of the stars in the Big Dipper, at +2.8 magnitude or so.

If you capture an image of the X37-B in orbit, send it to us, or submit it on Spaceweather.com’s site.

Just what is the mission of this secret mini space shuttle? There’s been lots of speculation, but read our previous article based on facts here.

Source: Spaceweather.com