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A new guide has become available on recording TLEs
August 27., 2025
Hints on how to start photographing TLEs, compiled by Christophe Suarez, are now linked in the page that intends to help photographers recently become interersted in capturing these events. The document is available in English, Spanish, and French.
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The brightest ELVES phenomenon so far in the UHU experiment was captured by the Hungarian astronaut of the Ax-4 mission
August 22., 2025
New observation data are becoming available from the UHU experiment, recorded by the crew of Axiom Space’s Ax-4 mission aboard the International Space Station between June 27 and July 13. Our team continues conducting quality checks and reviewing of the video recordings, searching for TLE . During the mission, we provided 8–12 potential observation possibilities... Details »
The ground-based observation campaign has ended
August 1., 2025
The observation campaign related to the project ended on 31 July. The collection of observations is still ongoing, similarly to the evaluation of observations made from space, some of which we still do not have access to. Thank you for the images you have sent and shared so far! We are still waiting for the observations made in July! Although this campaign has... Details »
The first TLEs found in the UHU project-related observations made from the ISS
July 18., 2025
During preliminary quality checks of the videos recorded during Axiom Space’s Ax-4 mission in the framework of the UHU Earth Observation experiment, we identified two distant ELVES , captured by Ax-4 mission commander Peggy Whitson on July 4 while flying over the Philippines and Eastern Indonesia. These are the first lightning-related optical flashes... Details »
The space mission ended, the ground campaign continues
July 15., 2025
The Ax-4 crew has left the ISS on 14 July so the mission to observe TLEs from up there has come to an end. Evaluation of the observations is underway. Nevertheless, the ground campaign to observe TLEs continues until the end of July, so we encourage you to keep an eye on the lightning activity in your area and also keep your camera ready! Summer nights are filled with... Details »
Status update
July 11., 2025
A few UHU project-related observations have already been made by the Ax-4 crew from the ISS. So far, we could access only a fraction of the recorded observation material. Basically, this allowed only qucik quality checking of the videos. Lightning has been surely recorded from space by the AX-4 crew. Detailed search for TLEs is yet to be done. A magnificent Gigantic... Details »
Hints on possible ISS-UHU joint observations are on Facebook
June 28., 2025
The AX-4 mission is happening on the ISS and we produce a list of observation targets for the astronauts daily. Whether any of the forecasted targets will be executed depends on the schedule of the crew and we get to know that only later. Thunderstorm targets that can likely be monitored by ground-based observers, too, are indicated regularly in the Facebook... Details »
The TLE observation campaign: 25 June – 31 July
June 24., 2025
At the time of writing this post, the Ax-4 mission is scheduled for launch on 25 June at 6:31 UTC. With the launch of the mission, the UHU ground-based TLE observation campaign starts, too. Regardless of the launch of the Ax-4 mission, we start the TLE ground observation campaign in the framework of the UHU experiment on 25 June. We welcome observation materials... Details »
Inspiring observations
June 15., 2025
At the end of the section summarizing the most important characteristics of TLEs, video footages have been inserted on thunderstorms and TLEs observed on different continents. These high-quality records demonstrate the level of photography one can reach with acquiring some knowledge and having patience and perseverance. Starting these activities requires... Details »
