Iridium Aimer

Photographing Iridium Flares and other satellites is a lot of fun and at times can be quite frustrating. I would try to point the camera by eyeball aligning it with a compass and angle finder. Sometimes it worked, other times I totally missed the flare. Once in a while I caught a partial flare in the frame.

With a little thought, and trial and error, I designed and built a doodad I call an “Iridium Aimer”. I now get every flare I try to photograph, and it’s normally in the center of the frame. Not only did it eliminate the frustration of missing the flare, but now I can incorporate foreground objects into the frame to add visual interest.

Step by step instructions (PDF) opens in new window

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