Hi all

We had a fairly nice pass this morning, reaching about 57deg altitude. I set my 12″ newt up on the EQ mount to start with, and I used Betelguese which was nice and high so I could get focus and set exposure and align the finderscope. 

I then shifted the OTA to the dobsonian base and waited for the ISS to appear. I also had the 350D set up on the tripod to capture the wide field view. As soon as I saw it behind the trees, I started the shutter on the 350D and pressed record in IC Capture to start capturing through the scope.

I tracked manually using the finderscope to try and keep the ISS in the field of view.

12″ newt, 2x barlow, DMK21AU04, 60fps, 1/1667s shutter, 125 gain.

I’m fairly happy with the result, it’s all practise for the time when everything comes together. I like the shadow across the radiators – a view I haven’t captured before.

International Space Station

Here’s a 12-frame animation of the best frames in the pass.

licence:

ISS Animation

And the wide-field image, with the bright moon out of frame on the left.

ISS on the morning 17/10/2008

UPDATE: This image was featured on SpaceWeather October 21, as well as the French Astronomy Cameras Blog (how good is your French? :))

Thanks for looking.

This image was taken this morning at approx 4:45am local time on the 24th September 2008, with a mag -1 ISS pass flying by at an altitude of approx 43deg.

I put the camera direct on the EQ mount (plonked down and not aligned) and set it to track so that I wouldn’t get the usual short trailing stars with the longish exposures.

2 exposures of 60s each, ISO100, f/4.5 were the settings used on my Canon 350D and Sigma 17-70mm lens @ 17mm. The two exposures were combined with Lighten blending, and a very minor curves and levels adjustment.

I had the moon to set the auto-focus on (and then lock it to manual) which was handy, too.

licence:

Moon, Orion and the ISS

Thanks for looking.

It’s been about 9 months since I was last able to capture an image of the ISS through the scope – the weather and timing have meant I just haven’t had an opportunity until last Thursday night.

It was a nice overhead pass, mag -2.1, but due to trees I could only capture it once it passed overhead until it started setting.

I used my 12” dob, with a 2x barlow and the DMK21AU04 at 60fps, 1/1250s exposure. I manually tracked the ISS through my RA 9×50 finderscope.

licence:

ISS

A small animation from some of the best frames is here: Animation

I’m really happy to have captured that amount of detail, and look forward to the next opportunity to capture it again in a few weeks. Hopefully it won’t be another 9 months before my next image of it!

Last night we had a great International Space Station (ISS) pass over Sydney and the Central Coast, passing almost directly overhead at a max magnitude of -2.4. It occured between 18:48 and 18:51 local time, a great time of night with the sky nice and dark, and not too late either so I could drag the whole family out to watch it.

I wanted to capture it through the scope (Satellite gallery) but I didn’t have time to set it all up (I only get home at 6pm and then had to have dinner, etc), so I captured a widefield view with the Canon 350D and Sigma 17-70mm lens on a fixed tripod using a long exposure.  It passed very close to the Moon and Jupiter, making for a nice conjunction in the sky.

licence:

Jupiter, the Moon and the ISS

licence:

The Moon and the ISS

Peter Ward from Sydney captured a fantastic high-resolution image of the ISS passing very close to Jupiter! Right place at the right time with the right equipment!

My family loved watching the bright ISS pass overhead. Last time we’d watched an ISS pass together I told the kids how there’s astronauts in there! They were suitably amazed. This time Abbey asked “How do the people get in there?” I told her a rocket took them up there. It’s great watching her face as she digests the information and I’d love to know what she imagines in her mind