Spot the Space Station

[Quadrupled]

"That brilliant ball of blue"



Chris Hadfield surprisingly sounds a lot like Ed Robertson.

The astronauts apparently see 16 sun rises & sets per day (24 hours)!! I don't know if that would be amazing over the entire trip or if I'd just become numb to it.

 

[bob1852]

You know it is cool when I spot it without the updates.

I was at a BBQ in Washington a few weeks ago and pointed it out to folks.

 

[estricklin]

I have been trying to contact NA1SS since I got my ham radio license, am working on a better 2 meter antenna right now, because all I have is a 5 watt handheld. People do it quite often and I want to be one of the lucky ones!!


Here is a video of someone doing it I found.

[ame]http://youtu.be/rmcV6xKSaSI[/ame]

Oh and I use www.isstracker.com, but I'm sure the alerts are a lot more handy.

KF5WHN

 

[shelly_belly]

I woke up this morning at 430 for a nature call and remembered that I had heard on the radio that this weekend was the Perseid meteor shower. I stepped out on the back deck and watched for 30 minutes. I counted 16 meteor strikes and much to my surprise I spotted 4 satellites. It probably would have been better if I didn't live in the city limits and didn't have so many trees. I'm going to look again tonight sometime during the 2-5 window. Next year is supposed to be unfavorable conditions due to a full moon or something.

 

[Quadrupled]

Southwest 'burbs of Chicago:

Time: Wed Aug 21 8:48 PM
Visible: 3 min
Max Height: 49 degrees
Appears: NNW
Disappears: E

 

[passedpawn]

I woke up this morning at 430 for a nature call and remembered that I had heard on the radio that this weekend was the Perseid meteor shower. I stepped out on the back deck and watched for 30 minutes. I counted 16 meteor strikes and much to my surprise I spotted 4 satellites. It probably would have been better if I didn't live in the city limits and didn't have so many trees. I'm going to look again tonight sometime during the 2-5 window. Next year is supposed to be unfavorable conditions due to a full moon or something.

My family vacationed on a small island on the gulf last week. Here on the gulf of Mexico, we don't keep any lights on the beach because it confuses the sea turtles. So, it's a great place to watch stars.

My son and I went out there well after midnight and watched the stars for an hour. No moon at all, cloudless night. After our irises opened, we, saw the milky way, and many shooting stars. Good fun for a dad and his boy. Brought back some mosquito bites for souvenirs.

 

[passedpawn]

I grabbed a 52 second exposure tonight. ISS streaking over my house. Hallo up there!

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Nice shot! Have you noticed Jupiter shining in the night sky the past couple nights? Should look good thru a telescope. Also the Orionids meteor shower is coming up later this month, peaking on the 21st I think.
Regards, GF.

 

[passedpawn]

Nice shot! Have you noticed Jupiter shining in the night sky the past couple nights? Should look good thru a telescope. Also the Orionids meteor shower is coming up later this month, peaking on the 21st I think.
Regards, GF.

You can see Venus there. At least that's what I think the very bright one is. I wasn't aware that Jupiter was visible. I'll be on the lookout.

October 6 around 8pm. This is the view to the SW.

 

[bob1852]

Saturn has been really bright in the Western sky lately. ISS should fly near it tonight here. That may make a cool picture.

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Triple shadow transit on Jupiter. A rare case of three moons — Io, Europa, and Callisto — casting their tiny black shadows onto Jupiter at the same time happens late, from 4:32 to 5:37 Universal Time October 12th (12:32 to 1:37 a.m. Saturday morning Eastern Daylight Time). Jupiter will be high and best placed for telescope users in Europe and Africa, and low in the east for eastern North America.

 

[passedpawn]

Anyone seen Gravity, the movie? Very cool. Two space shuttles in there.

This picture is overexposed. It was completely unattended (I was at a soccer game). Stacked them in software just now. There was a 10 second gap between exposures, hence the ISS disappears a bit there.

 

[JeffoC6]

I've been spotting the space station for the last week or so. I don't see a "streak" or a "line" as some of the pictures in this thread show. Instead, I see a solid moving "star" that moves across the sky at a pretty good clip, only to disappear right around when the time predicts. Is that what everyone else is seeing? Or are you seeing "streaks" and "straight lines" formed by the space station? I want to make sure I'm actually seeing the space station, and not something else

 

[bob1852]

I've been spotting the space station for the last week or so. I don't see a "streak" or a "line" as some of the pictures in this thread show. Instead, I see a solid moving "star" that moves across the sky at a pretty good clip, only to disappear right around when the time predicts. Is that what everyone else is seeing? Or are you seeing "streaks" and "straight lines" formed by the space station? I want to make sure I'm actually seeing the space station, and not something else

Yeah, streaks are coming from long exposures...

The thing does look like a bright star moving faster than an airplane at an elevation much higher than an airplane but much lower than most satelites...

 

[passedpawn]

I've been spotting the space station for the last week or so. I don't see a "streak" or a "line" as some of the pictures in this thread show. Instead, I see a solid moving "star" that moves across the sky at a pretty good clip, only to disappear right around when the time predicts. Is that what everyone else is seeing? Or are you seeing "streaks" and "straight lines" formed by the space station? I want to make sure I'm actually seeing the space station, and not something else

That picture above is actually two photos combined. Each photo was a 3 minute exposure. Over 3 minutes, the shutter on my camera was left open. The result is a streak. Even the stars are streaks there. there was a 10-second period between exposures. That's why a blank spot in the ISS streak.

I probably should have gone with a faster exposure (or stopped the lens aperture down) since the pic came out a little bright.

 

[passedpawn]

Quick shot of the ISS moving past the moon. The ISS is the vertical streak. The horizontal streak is an airplane that unfortunately made an appearance.

 

[aeviaanah]

Quick shot of the ISS moving past the moon. The ISS is the vertical streak. The horizontal streak is an airplane that unfortunately made an appearance.

Nice photo! Is that how large the SS appears or is that the camera causing that?

 

[bob1852]

Nice photo! Is that how large the SS appears or is that the camera causing that?

Uh, that is the moon...

 

[passedpawn]

Uh, that is the moon...

haha. I just uploaded a slightly clearer version of the pic. The vertical streak is the ISS.

It wasn't very bright tonight. Not sure why, the moon was very bright.

 

[aeviaanah]

Uh, that is the moon...

i realize that lol!

 

[bob1852]

Gonna try and get a close up with my 500mm lens tonight. It's flying over just after dark and sorta close to the moon. Hoping that's enough ambient light for a quick shutter speed.

It'll be a challenge...

 

[passedpawn]

Gonna try and get a close up with my 500mm lens tonight. It's flying over just after dark and sorta close to the moon. Hoping that's enough ambient light for a quick shutter speed.

It'll be a challenge...

Are you going to open the aperture all the way, or step down a couple?

What's your intent with the fast shutter? Are you taking multiple shots and stacking?

 

[bob1852]

Are you going to open the aperture all the way, or step down a couple?

What's your intent with the fast shutter? Are you taking multiple shots and stacking?

Not sure yet.

Most of the stuff I'm seeing on photog forums is using a 1.4-2x converter (which I don't have. yet. )...

I'd be happy with something similar to this (found on the the interwebz).

 

[passedpawn]

Not sure yet.

Most of the stuff I'm seeing on photog forums is using a 1.4-2x converter (which I don't have. yet. )...

I'd be happy with something similar to this (found on the the interwebz).

Yea, I saw that pic. Crazy, looks like an x-wing fighter from Star Wars. It's a good test for your optics. I do see why you need fast shutter now.

Good luck!

 

[bob1852]

Yea, I saw that pic. Crazy, looks like an x-wing fighter from Star Wars. It's a good test for your optics. I do see why you need fast shutter now.

Good luck!

Thanks!

It's a long fly over tonight - 5 minutes with a SSW to NNE trajectory with a height of 51* so I should have plenty of opportunity to screw things up!

 

[passedpawn]

Thanks!

It's a long fly over tonight - 5 minutes with a SSW to NNE trajectory with a height of 51* so I should have plenty of opportunity to screw things up!

I've got a flyover in 6 minutes. I'm working so I think I'll just step out on the driveway and wave.

 

[bob1852]

Here she is at 500mm (top left quadrant).

Here she is cropped.

Not too bad for my first attempt. My tripod was shaking too much during tracking with the weight of that lens. Need to either get a better tri-pod or maybe shoot free hand.

Shutter was 1/250. Maybe need to bump that a bit, or adjust the f/stop as I think it's a bit too overexposed.

 

[passedpawn]

Here she is cropped.

Not too bad for my first attempt. My tripod was shaking too much during tracking with the weight of that lens. Need to either get a better tri-pod or maybe shoot free hand.

Shutter was 1/250. Maybe need to bump that a bit, or adjust the f/stop as I think it's a bit too overexposed.

I'm impressed. I didn't think it would work at all.

I use this tripod. It's very sturdy. Now I need that lens you have there.

Did you use a remote to release the shutter? I think I'd lock the shutter up and use the remote to trigger the exposure. Maybe you did that.

 

[bob1852]

I'm impressed. I didn't think it would work at all.

I use this tripod. It's very sturdy. Now I need that lens you have there.

Did you use a remote to release the shutter? I think I'd lock the shutter up and use the remote to trigger the exposure. Maybe you did that.

Thanks! I've got the Sigma 50-500mm and I like it a lot for wildlife and astronomy.

I was surprised with how it worked. It was also the first shot out of ~60 that was at all in focus. Must have bumped the focus ring.

I was using a remote trigger with one hand as I was swinging the tripod with the other hand.

Here's a moon shot from awhile back taken with that lens.

 

[passedpawn]

Thanks! I've got the Sigma 50-500mm and I like it a lot for wildlife and astronomy.

I was surprised with how it worked. It was also the first shot out of ~60 that was at all in focus. Must have bumped the focus ring.

I was using a remote trigger with one hand as I was swinging the tripod with the other hand.

Here's a moon shot from awhile back taken with that lens.

I'm loving it. Much jealousy.