Photographer Documents Secret Satellites — All 189 of Them

[struggle4progress]

By Bryan Gardiner

... His shots of 189 secret spy satellites are the subject of a new exhibit -- despite the fact that, officially speaking, the satellites don't exist. The Other Night Sky, on display at the University of California at Berkeley Art Museum through September 14, is only a small selection from the 1,500 astrophotographs <Trevor> Paglen has taken thus far ...

To capture his images, the researcher and "experimental geographer" employs a motorized mount with various combinations of telescopes and digital and large-format film cameras. Paglen uses spy-satellite data compiled by Ted Molczan -- a renowned amateur astronomer profiled by Wired magazine in 2006 -- to predict where a given "black satellite" will be in the sky. Then he decides how he wants to compose the image ...

"For a time, people were getting arrested for photographing the Brooklyn Bridge," Paglen notes. "So to me, what it meant to do photography also changed. There was a new kind of politics to it -- something that was very aggressive and dangerous -- and a presumption that it would reveal some kind of truth or evidence."

Ultimately, the satellite photos are an attempt to critique that attitude. While the budget for black military operations has more than doubled in the last 10 years and the government continues to espouse the virtues of secrecy, it can't prevent interested amateur astronomers from calculating the orbital paths of spy satellites ...

http://www.wired.com/culture/art/news/2008/06/secret_satellites

[Canuckistanian]

1. They can't really hide them, can they?

I mean, a satellite is EASILY visible to the naked eye.

And if it isn't in the satellite database, it's not hard to calculate it's orbit, speed and altitude.

No doubt the Chinese, Russians and whoever else knows ALL about them.

[Hekate]

2. Fascinating. I like the way his mind works. nt

[Indenturedebtor]

6. They're not trying to hide them from foreign governments

They just don't want us to think about them too much. We might then realise that we have no right to privacy any more.

[crickets]

3. Somebody has a serious photo fetish

and I don't think it's the guy who photographed the spy satellites. 189? Egad. Quick, everybody run outside, look up and SMILE!

[hunter]

5. Moon them.

:yoiks:

[Celebration]

4. Wow, love this story! n/t