For Daniel Arturo, chasing Falcon 9 launches from his home in Ensenada, México, is equal parts science and instinct.
“To get the best shots, I use manual mode, slow tracking, and follow the rocket by hand the entire way. There’s no time for auto-tracking—it’s all about instinct and timing,” Daniel says.
Here’s how he nails those jaw-dropping shots with his Seestar S50:
Location is everything: He lives 572km from the rocket launch site, scouted for perfect skyline framing, and captured this thrilling scene from his rooftop.
Manual mode or bust: “Rockets are too fast for auto-tracking—slow tracking, manual focus, and steady hands the whole time. It’s all instinct.”
Timing trick: Starts shooting at +1:40 minutes post-launch, when the rocket hits 24km altitude and clears the horizon.
Elusive target hack: For first-stage reentry (300km offshore), he waits for “perfect light—when the sun hits the booster just right.”
Recently, he caught something rare: two bright blips splitting off the rocket trail. “That’s the separation—Seestar S50 picked it up like it was nothing.”
But Daniel’s obsession with the sky started long before rockets. At 18, he saw Saturn’s rings through a telescope and “couldn’t look away.” Then came the 1991 solar eclipse—“it burned into my brain. I knew I’d spend forever chasing that feeling.”
From solar eclipses to orbital launches, his journey proves it: the universe’s best shows aren’t just in deep space—sometimes they’re streaking across your evening sky. And with Seestar? You don’t need a PhD to catch them.
This is the route Space X takes. Daniel is the red dot at Ensenada
