can you track ISS with go-to dob? YES you CAN!

[Dude_with_the_tube]

According to many sources,ISS was supposedly be visible yesterday 15/10/13 at about 20:11 and it had a very nice mid/high trajectory passing just over the top of moon,giving you about 2-3 mins ability to see it,as such i had my scope out at 18:00 to cool down.My main idea was to try and track the ISS to see more detail  of it as I have seen the ISS quite a few times with my eyes,but it was only a nice bright shiny star.Also the forecast was cloudy/clear skies so i might as well observe some doubles and moon.Went out again at 19:00 to spend a nice hour on the moon,but to my surprise the weather has turned.Everything felt wet and there was definitely a moist in the air was was clearly affecting the views.I was unable to use 6 or 7mm EP on the dob as the picture was turning into mushy peas.Thats disappointing!So settled for 12.5 and panned the moon.Anyhow,as the time got closer to appearance of ISS,i started calculating what slew speeds should be used and decided to go for slew speed 6.(SKywatcher synscan).EP wise i went for 14mm UWA (82 deg). And here she comes.I spotted the ISS coming up behind the neighbors house and aimed the scope.After a couple of seconds,ISS apeared in Telrad and i jumped to EP.There it is! Trick worked and I was able to keep ISS in centre of EP for good 2 mins.I could clearly see the central structure of the station and both solar wings.Still very bright so no small details,but still very pleased with the result!Better result could be achiever if i had EQ mount,but never the less,stunning!

Well with ISS viewed,i jumped on a dozen of doubles but the mist started to come down heavily so time to pack up.Before i do so,i decided to snap a picture of the moon.Here it is.All astro photographers dont be heavy on me as this is not my specialty.I am visual observer only

Used:un-modded Nikon D3200,ISO 100,F4,2x barlow.one single shot.

[Schorhr]

Great report! I'm still trying to figure out what the best tracking option with my equipment would be, probably Stellarium and the Nexstar slt, if the lag isn't too high?

:-)

[Dude_with_the_tube]

Stellarium does not support the "Track" command.They have abandoned the development of it.The only command Stellarium can do is the "slew to" or Go-To and thats it. Your scope Nexstar is a Go-to scope anyway so any terrestrial object will be auto tracked automatically,but unfortunately that does not apply to  comets,or satellites.These you will have to track by hand so far as i am aware.maybe someone more into satellite tracking will chip in and advise on this?

[TractionMan]

Really great report! I thought very specialized equipment was needed to track ISS.

[Schorhr]

I was not aware of this; Oh well, I am sure I can find a way to do it, there's other control software out there. Right now the clouds will prevent any observations.

[Astro Imp]

Nice report, you just never know what is possible 'til you try.

[TwoPi]

Only just seen this thread - inspiring stuff - I'm going to give this a try!!

[Dude_with_the_tube]

ISS tracking can be done by hand too,but you will need equatorial mount with slow motion controls to avoid moving the scope by hand as this causes the shaky image,where manual dobs will have to use wider angle eye piece.as I have now changed my eps,i will use 9mm 100 degrees next time so I should get even more details out of this hopefully.

It is quite interesting and challenging,but enjoyable and rewarding challange.

[mjpfc]

I often track the ISS Visually with my 20cm newt manually (I havent got a motor drive) on an equatorial mount.

Although I cannot photograph through it, and most of the crossing can be shakey, I get periods where the

view is stable and it is an absolute knockout.

As TD says it is very bright, I wonder if someone out there is designing and ISS blocking filter right now.

I might try a pollution filter on it.#

Mick.

[BellP]

I am also a keen follower of ISS, I have the ISS Spotter App on my iPhone(I think it's £1.99 or so) and it has been very accurate so far and has great features, I live in London and it states the next visible pass will be tomorrow(10th Nov) at 6:22AM (16^o elevation, Magnitude -0.5), then variously for about a week. not hopeful about the weather though, would be ineterested to hear if anyone listens in to the transmissions, what scanner or radio might be needed.

Thanks,

Pete

[Dude_with_the_tube]

LP or moon filter should do the trick.according to nasa next sittings are all in early mornings and starting from Friday 15th twice a day in the morning.