Space station spotting

[MilnerR]

According to this thread (http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=141&t=452899&i=300) the international space station should be bright and visible tonight so I was going to venture up onto the moors with a 300mm telephoto and a tripod to see if I can get a shot of it. I have no idea how it's going to turn out or if I'm even going to be able to see anything. Anyone tried this before? Any tips to having a fighting chance?

I've taken plenty of detailed pics of the moon, should I use similar settings?

[havoc]

MilnerR said:

According to this thread (http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=141&t=452899&i=300) the international space station should be bright and visible tonight so I was going to venture up onto the moors with a 300mm telephoto and a tripod to see if I can get a shot of it. I have no idea how it's going to turn out or if I'm even going to be able to see anything. Anyone tried this before? Any tips to having a fighting chance?

I've taken plenty of detailed pics of the moon, should I use similar settings?

Hmmm...it's travelling at about 30,000mph, so I think you may need a quicker shutter speed!!!

Honest answer - it's moving across the sky a lot quicker than the moon, so you can't just pop it on bulb and leave it for as long as you think, as you'll just get a blur. But it won't be moving THAT quickly, so experiment with a few different exposures.

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

You'll need a bit more than 300mm to get any detail http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMY46XAIPE_index_1.html#...

[MilnerR]

30,000 mph panning shot then


The moon shots I've done were all on quite high shutter speeds so maybe something as bright as the ISS might not be a problem, I'm really just wondering if you could see anything at all of the space station without lots of expensive astro-photography gear. Just wondered if anyone else had tried it?

A bulb exposure of it crossing the sky might be quite cool though.....


edit to add, looks like I'll have to try a long exposure and see what the results look like....

Edited by MilnerR on Tuesday 22 July 14:04

[Dr MAD]

Should be in the sky at around 10.15 tonight. It's normally visible for between 2-5 mins. Tonight is a 5 minuter apparently.

Visible as a bright white "star" moving slowly across the sky.

Check here for exact sighting times in your area: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cit...

[slartibartfast]

shame it'll be too light at that time otherwise a wide angle lense and 5minute open shutter might give a nice shot.
if you search youtube there are a few people that have videoed it through a webcam inplace of the eyepiece on the telescope.

there was one night last year with my skywatcer 200 that i saw about 5 satelites go by while viewing a cluster, that was quite nice, i tried following using the HEQ5 mounts x9 speed and managed to track it for a second or two but there was no chance of keeping it steady enough for a webcam to capture it so i've no idea what people are using for tracking.

Paul

[Dr MAD]

Bit of a mad panic to get set up... missed it first time round but managed to get this at the 11.51 showing...



rubbish shot really but to think there are people living on that spec of light is amazing really. Well I think so!

[Bob_Defly]

Is it round again tomorrow? If so can you post your exposure settings..?

[Dogsey]

Dr MAD said:

Bit of a mad panic to get set up... missed it first time round but managed to get this at the 11.51 showing...



rubbish shot really but to think there are people living on that spec of light is amazing really. Well I think so!

That's a pretty cool capture IMO. Saw it both times, although only just the second time as it was getting cloudy, very cool sight.

[Dr MAD]

Thanks Dogsey. Plenty more sightings this week:

ISS Wed Jul 23/10:40 PM 6mins
ISS Thu Jul 24/00:15 AM 3
ISS Thu Jul 24/11:06 PM 5
ISS Fri Jul 25/00:41 AM 1
ISS Fri Jul 25/09:56 PM 6
ISS Fri Jul 25/11:32 PM 4
ISS Sat Jul 26/10:22 PM 6
ISS Sat Jul 26/11:58 PM 2
ISS Sun Jul 27/10:48 PM 4

Bob, exposure was manual, f7.1 on bulb setting. Kept it open for 68 seconds. Couldn't see what I was doing so just pointed up and hoped for the best!

Good luck tomorrow night

Dan

[MilnerR]

Nice shot, I went out last night but it was thick clouds everywhere (grim up north!). I'm going to see if I get better luck over the next few days. Nice shot. It is amazing that there are people on that speck of light moving at 30,000mph!

[slartibartfast]

Dr MAD said:

Thanks Dogsey. Plenty more sightings this week:

ISS Wed Jul 23/10:40 PM 6mins
ISS Thu Jul 24/00:15 AM 3
ISS Thu Jul 24/11:06 PM 5
ISS Fri Jul 25/00:41 AM 1
ISS Fri Jul 25/09:56 PM 6
ISS Fri Jul 25/11:32 PM 4
ISS Sat Jul 26/10:22 PM 6
ISS Sat Jul 26/11:58 PM 2
ISS Sun Jul 27/10:48 PM 4

Bob, exposure was manual, f7.1 on bulb setting. Kept it open for 68 seconds. Couldn't see what I was doing so just pointed up and hoped for the best!

Good luck tomorrow night

Dan

excellent, thanks for the times Dan, it's a cloudless sky here in lincoln at 17:18 so hopefully it'll be clear for tonights 10:40 showing, i'll get my camera at the ready.
what sort of direction will it be traveling in?

Paul

[Elderly]

Go to www.heavens-above.com

Then look at, Satellites:

10 day predictions for: ISS

It will give you ALL the info you want including
a chart showing whereabouts above the earth, the ISS is as you watch it.

You will have to register with them.

[Dr MAD]

Here we go. Looks as though it will be passing me directly overhead...

[jmorgan]

If you are out taking pics, why not check for iridium flares as well. It's on the Heavens above site. Hope to catch them tonight.

Just to add I gave up on the 300 and stuck with the 50. It was easier to get the station in shot and the neighbors might get a tad narky with the zoom.

[slartibartfast]

50? i was going to use my 18-55 on wide angle, not sure what to do after you said that as you might have the best idea.

if it's taking 6mins to cross i think i'll leave it on bulb with a 100ISO and hope for the best.

Paul

[jmorgan]

50..... my bad. Just checked the meta data. 18. Don't suppose it matters, I found that with the 300 I could not locate the correct part of the sky as easily compared with the other. Also made the mistake of f22 for some ungodly reason best known to no one until after I had checked the pics and they looked shonky. ISO was at 400 as well.

Right, poor shot really but f22, iso 400, 18mm and 25 seconds.

Edited by jmorgan on Wednesday 23 July 21:46

[slartibartfast]

22:28 here in Lincoln, just checked and not a cloud in the sky, going to setup the 300D with the 18-55.

[bad_roo]

Just spotted it. Pretty fast moving, very clear and bright point of light.

[slartibartfast]

AWSOME!!!!!

photos being uploaded as you read this.
should have some pics by 23:05