Well that was hard work !!

[Steve Ward]

Been determined to attempt this for some while and last night was the first crack at it,

1 hours prep , 4 mins to shoot , 3 1/2 hours to process......

............and all for this.............

Ain't gonna win any awards , but considering it's 224 miles up and doing 17,247 miles an hour I'm pretty happy to have made a start in the right direction....

[JamesF]

It's the international squashed fly!

I think anyone who manages to get an image of something moving that quickly across the sky is doing pretty well Steve. Are you going to tell us any more about what kit you were using? Well done.

James

[squeaky]

If you clean that dead midge off your mirror you'll probably get a better photo

I'm miles away from trying a challenge like that one yet! As you say - having caught the beggar once you can only get better

Well done!

[Steve Ward]

Ta ,

Actually looks like an angry midge in the video....

Better pass details for tonight so having another go..

Checked pass details of first try .. it was actually 496.5 miles away so feeling even better now

[Steve Ward]

P.S. Click on video and it'll move eventually.

[squeaky]

Nope. Tried it in FF and IE

[Steve Ward]

Oh well , I'll show you next week .

Just rigged a spare 9X50 finderscope and spare 8" ring to give me a better aiming setup ,

Can control scope much better holding primary with both hands and seems to be the way forward.

The small shift you get with the rdf when head moves slightly makes putting it on the chip a nightmare .

Been tracking distant planes in practice , fingers crossed for tonite,

Better higher pass about 3:30am , only 295 miles away !!!

[Ags]

Good luck!

[Steve Ward]

I do like a challenge ,

now I have a vague idea of what's required things should get easier !

[ejwwest]

I would advise perseverance and incremental refinement. My efforts gradually improve (see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ejwwest/sets/72157623878835436/ ) but have some way to go to reach the level Thierry Legault achieves. My next improvement is to use a Bhatinov mask to get an improved focus.

[MidnightSun]

Great shot....seems like setup always is longer than playtime.....

[Steve Ward]

When you only have a couple of minute window it certainly makes you think clearly...

Some of the time anyway.......

My brilliant sight set-up neglected one small but quite important point....

The finderscope image is all back to front.....so trying to track and keep it in the cross hairs is like trying to ride one of those bikes which have the handlebars that turn the wheels the opposite way........Impossible.....

Have made mod 2 now , left holder on 3rd ring , removed finder and fitted ply disc inside holder.

8mm hole in disc allows sight of RDF target but removes parallax effect due to any head movement.

Have had successful practice runs on airliners and lower faster moving F-15E's so just waiting for clear skies again....

I refuse to be beaten.....

[Pete Presland]

pretty good shot to be honest.like has been said before its not an easy target!

[Steve Ward]

Next attempt was more productive ,

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/152521-iss-8-6-2012-0132-ish/