ISS over Geppetto Towers

[geppetto]

Trevor's fault this, setting me off chasing the ISS....

Anyhoo, setup the D40 prime focus on my 130mm F5

on the ALT/AZ mount.

Set the camera to it's highest ISO which is a pseudo 3200

and set the shutter speed to 1/800th second.

Set to continuous shoot, got the ISS in the finder and started shooting

whilst manually tracking the mount in an attempt to follow the beast

Got 20 odd blobs, 15 odd streaks but half a dozen of these with some shape.....

What do you reckon, am I kidding myself or is that possibly an image

[GazOC]

You can certainly make out what is it. So I'd yes, it's an image!

[geppetto]

Just checked a few more and even the blobs with motion blur

show that shape but blurred...

Looks plausible....

Gonna have another go at the next pass later on

[centroid]

Could be Phil, although I can't see anyone waving out of the 'porthole'

Dave

[Jaffa007]

Great shot! Detail there to.

Looked out & up just as it flew over house.

[Ant]

Fantastic mate! Excellent attempt at an image.

Looks decidedly ISS shaped to me!

Congrats on a VERY difficult target.

Ant

[Caz]

Show off!

[Trevor]

Well done Phil Its certainly a difficult target.

Rain stops play here

it should be a nice sight over the next week or so when the shuttles docked.

[lunator]

Phil

I reckon you can call that a good catch.

[SteelRat]

Nice one Phil. Just saw the 2nd pass here in the bins - 23.24-23.25. I'ts a big bright b#gger now eh? 8)

[geppetto]

Had another go at the later pass and got a few out of the many

with that shape so I reckon that's an image

Problem is, the image doesn't occupy many pixels and if I stuck in a barlow

the tracking would be impossible without me breaking a hip

Great fun, going to sit in a darkened room now with me mug of cocoa

[legion48]

It's either the ISS or a two headed luminous duck. :shock:

My money is on the ISS. Nice one.

[mpeniak]

Nice one Phil. It definitely looks like ISS to me.

Martin

[Jamie]

Good capture Philip... 8)

[Kai]

Spot on Philip

[FLO]

Looks distinctly like an image to me 8)

[barkis]

Well done Phil. we can call that a good catch.

Ron.

[jonifive]

Nice one Phil. Definately an image. JV

[Carl]

Very, very nice that Phil, i feel like going after it now but it`ll either be to late in the night or to far for me to see, oh well there`s still the boeings

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Nice one Phil, great shot.

Wonder if the HEQ5 would guide on the thing? Is it fast enough for a start?

Kaptain Klevtsov

[geppetto]

Wonder if the HEQ5 would guide on the thing? Is it fast enough for a start?

The standard HEQ5 is too slow KK...

Would like to make a dedicated barn door tracker but does the ISS track W to E

in the same arc but at different altitudes relative to us (which would be ok) or

does it's arc change as well (which would not be OK)

Be nice to build one to get some good high res Toucam images...