International Space Station - 30th May 2015

[Davide Simonetti]

Another shot of the ISS as it passed over London on May 30th 2015. I think this is a slightly better shot than the one I posted a couple of days ago. This time the shutter speed was increased to 1/1250 second and the final image tweaked slightly in Photoshop. The method of capture was exactly the same as before with one person to drive the scope using the spotter scope and the other to rapid fire the camera at the right time.

[Davey-T]

Well done Davide, I had a couple of tries last night but failed miserably 

Dave

[Davide Simonetti]

Well done Davide, I had a couple of tries last night but failed miserably

Dave

Sorry to hear it didn't work out this time but I'm sure it will soon.

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[Pete Presland]

Very nice how did you focus on it?

[Davide Simonetti]

Very nice how did you focus on it?

The focus was set in advance by finding a star and using a Bahtinov Mask to get it as sharp as possible (as I do on all astro work). When the ISS flew over I was confident it would be in focus although the shots of it as it approached and as it receded show it small and fuzzy...the best shots were those taken when it was directly overhead.

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[Pete Presland]

It's a great effort i have tried it myself so I know how hard it is.

[Tommohawk]

Thats a great shot!.

Just a thought - do you think it would be possible to capture in video? I guess it would have to be crop mode... so the guy on the spotter would probably need to be on some class A medication.

[Davey-T]

Going between the Moon and Saturn tonight at 22.26.

Dave

[Pete Presland]

Lovely pass tonight right through the middle!

[Davey-T]

Damn cloud bank right in the way 

Dave

[Essex nightsky]

Was a fine sight, strange that the pass wasn't mentioned on the website

http://spotthestation.nasa.gov/sightings/view.cfm?country=United_Kingdom&region=England&city=Chelmsford#.VWuN_UZwbK0

[Davide Simonetti]

Thats a great shot!.

Just a thought - do you think it would be possible to capture in video? I guess it would have to be crop mode... so the guy on the spotter would probably need to be on some class A medication.

We have tried doing it with video (using my ZWOASI120 MC camera) but keeping the ISS in frame is almost impossible and on the odd frame where it did appear it was just a blurry streak despite shooting at the fastest possible frame rate. Using the DSLR has yielded the best results so far.

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[Davide Simonetti]

I just went out to try some Saturn and Moon shots but was defeated by cloud. so I didn't set anything up. As a consolation I was treated to a magnificent view of the ISS passing overhead

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