TODAY - 1st Falcon Heavy Launch

[JonA_CT]

Simple trigonometry.

 

[smoke665]

The two boosters landing at the same time might be the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.

Right out of Buck Rogers

 

[compur]

So, how does a camera follow an object moving faster than a high power rifle bullet?

When was the last time to saw video of a bullet from almost 20 miles away?

Why is it that a car can cross my vision in a matter of seconds, while a plane, traveling much faster, can take a minute or so?

My question is about cameras, not eyes. If you have ever tried to track a jet with a telescope you'd know what I mean. It is very difficult to do. And, most jets travel at only about 600mph but this rocket is said to be traveling at over 2,000mph (and faster in later parts of the video). My question is how are they tracking this thing with a camera?

 

[JonA_CT]

So, how does a camera follow an object moving faster than a high power rifle bullet?

When was the last time to saw video of a bullet from almost 20 miles away?

Why is it that a car can cross my vision in a matter of seconds, while a plane, traveling much faster, can take a minute or so?

My question is about cameras, not eyes. If you have ever tried to track a jet with a telescope you'd know what I mean. It is very difficult to do. And, most jets travel at only about 600mph but this rocket is said to be traveling at over 2,000mph (and faster in later parts of the video). My question is how are they tracking this thing with a camera?

Ah, I get what you're saying now.

Since they know exactly where it's going, I bet they are able to program camera to pan at the right speed. After all, they were figured out how to launch 140,000 lbs in to space, haha.

 

[Destin]

So, how does a camera follow an object moving faster than a high power rifle bullet?

When was the last time to saw video of a bullet from almost 20 miles away?

Why is it that a car can cross my vision in a matter of seconds, while a plane, traveling much faster, can take a minute or so?

My question is about cameras, not eyes. If you have ever tried to track a jet with a telescope you'd know what I mean. It is very difficult to do. And, most jets travel at only about 600mph but this rocket is said to be traveling at over 2,000mph (and faster in later parts of the video). My question is how are they tracking this thing with a camera?

Even watching the old videos from the Apollo launches, they had massive cameras with super long glass on them (canon 800mm maybe? Longer?) and the whole combo was mounted on a motorized tracking mount. And that was in the 60s.

I’m sure they’re using something similar today.

 

[petrochemist]

My question is about cameras, not eyes. If you have ever tried to track a jet with a telescope you'd know what I mean. It is very difficult to do. And, most jets travel at only about 600mph but this rocket is said to be traveling at over 2,000mph (and faster in later parts of the video). My question is how are they tracking this thing with a camera?

The actual speed it's moving doesn't make any difference in tracking, it's the angular change that's important. The further away a subject is the less you have to change the aim to keep it framed. At 1 mile distance tracking 2000mph would be impressive.
Taking things to extremes the sun (~900 million miles away) effective goes round the world every 24 hours which works out as an apparent speed of 235 million mph, but it's not difficult to track - the angular change being less than someone walking past you 10yards away.
Higher magnifications make the precision needed higher, but don't change the tracking aspect.

 

[webestang64]

So, how does a camera follow an object moving faster than a high power rifle bullet?

When was the last time to saw video of a bullet from almost 20 miles away?

Why is it that a car can cross my vision in a matter of seconds, while a plane, traveling much faster, can take a minute or so?

My question is about cameras, not eyes. If you have ever tried to track a jet with a telescope you'd know what I mean. It is very difficult to do. And, most jets travel at only about 600mph but this rocket is said to be traveling at over 2,000mph (and faster in later parts of the video). My question is how are they tracking this thing with a camera?

Yes......multiple cameras.......Kennedy Space Center uses 10 of these.........