Slightly off topic but still interesting...

[Connortron]

I just spotted a satellite and wondered How much detail a decent scope would reveal?

[brantuk]

Not a lot and allmost impossible to track with a scope. One or two folks have got a reasonable shot of the ISS but will admit it was more by luck than design. Other satellites are much smaller - imagine imaging a dustbin at a distance of a few hundred miles lol

[Andrew*]

I have seen and tracked the ISS in my dob at 50x and it was bigger than Saturn and clearly showed several panels etc. Absolutely mesmerising experience!!

Ordinary satellites are completely featureless at any magnification however. They often cross the field of view in the telescope as just a moving dot.

[Connortron]

Ahh I suspected that might be the case, I really want to experience viewing with a decent scope now it's very compelling!

[stolenfeather]

I tried to view the ISS and found it impossible to track. When it actually made it to my eyepiece,.. I just hoped I would blink!

Isabelle

[JimStan]

I forget the name, but there is one fellow who has set up an image aquiring scope to track such things as the ISS. He has been successful and published his photos on the web. But that is certainly the exception, rather than the rule.

I am satisfied to follow the ISS and other much smaller satellites with my binoculars, although my Son has has some success in keeping them in the view of his "richest field" telescope, which actually has a several degree FOV ! ( makes it much easier ! )

Jim S.

[assasincz]

I too have managed to track ISS manually for a few moments just overhead, with a widefield 57x magnification eyepiece. Even though it was all over the place (or a field of view to be precise), both solar panels and habitable sections were distinctly visible, forming a nice H shape (similar to image below but in the EP, it seems way smaller) . It was even apparent that the solar panels are in a double row on each side. Just after dawn however, it was bright as hell, almost hurting my eye it is a stunning experience - you suddently realize the speed ISS moves up there!

That said, any other satellite I have ever managed to get in the EP (intentionaly or by a stroke of luck) was way too small to reveal any sort of shape or detail. That is presumably due to their smaller size (relative to ISS) and their higher orbits (I assume they are higher because the speed they move through the sky is often way lower that that of ISS)

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I have had hints of structure even in 15x70 bins. I thought I was imagining things, but a little math showed that at 15x the ISS should be resolved (depending on the altitude, of course).