[FPSPACE] We can neither confirm nor deny...

[LARRY KLAES]

Photographer Images Satellites That Do Not Exist

Written by Ian O'Neill

Trevor Paglen is an astrophotographer with a difference… he takes photos of 
satellites that are not there. Officially "not there", anyway. He spends 
many nights surveying the skies, waiting for classified spy satellites to 
pass overhead. When one appears, after researching what is actually out 
there (which is a hard task, these things are not meant to be discovered!) 
he captures it with his hi-tech astronomical spy satellite-catching 
equipment. His work makes for captivating (if unnerving) reading. Apart from 
capturing 189 "ghost" satellites in orbit, he's turned his stargazing lenses 
to Earth and taken a peek into the top secret world of "black ops"…

In a new art show at the University of California, Berkley (link down at 
time of writing), it could be any regular astrophotography exhibit. But this 
one called "The Other Night Sky" is very different. The photographer is 
Trevor Paglen and he has an interesting pastime; he takes pictures of things 
the US government wants to keep secret. Firstly, Paglen's night sky imagery 
documents 189 US spy satellites he has painstakingly tracked down and 
captured in a camera shutter to be displayed for public viewing. It's one 
thing to sit and wait for the International Space Station to pass overhead 
(after following its orbit on Google Earth) and take a picture that looks 
better than a dim blur (much like my attempt at astrophotography!), but it's 
quite another thing to do the research on something that shouldn't exist, 
predict where the satellite might appear and capture its trail as crisply as 
Paglen does.

Full article here:

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/06/21/photographer-images-satellites-that-do-not-exist/