First image of the CHAMP Advanced Stellar Compass (ASC) downloaded to ground.
The image shows the stars of the Perseus constellation with the bright Mirphak star below the center. On the image you also find another satellite passing by at a very high relative speed - see the faint trace to the right of Mirphak.
This is the result of the analysis as performed by the ASC. Lower left the image is shown with stars correctly identified (green circles) and luminous non-stellar objects (red circles). Protons passing through the camera chip cause the many non-stellar objects. Nominally only a few protons are expected but due to an extreme geomagnetic storm during the CHAMP launch the number is vastly increased.
Upper left shows the match between the star image and the star catalogue with the green lines indicating the error direction and size (enlarged).
The result, i.e. the attitude, is listed to the right together with other image information. E.g. 143 luminous objects were detected of which 71 are stars and 5 are due to the trace of the other satellite.
