imaging the ISS as it transits the moon help

[Nova]

Hi all. I have a predicted lunar transit of the ISS tomorrow night and wondered if any one has had any experience of imaging this rare event. I will be using my spc900 and was wondering what settings I should be aiming for? Mainly frame rate (slow or fast) exposure, moon filter or no moon filter etc etc. Any tips would be appreciated

[Photosbykev]

from my attempt of an ISS solar transit I've found you need a frame rate as fast as possible, I was shooting at 60fps and only captured the ISS on 13 frames at a FL of 1100mm with a DMK21 camera. Also assuming the ISS is sunlit then a very short shutter speed is needed to 'stop' the ISS motion and to avoid over exposing the ISS

[JamesF]

Have a search through SGL. Someone has written up a set of notes about imaging the ISS I believe. At the moment however I just can't recall who.

James

[Freddie]

It's pinned in the Imaging-widefield...... section

[lukebl]

The trouble with trying to capture it with a small sensor like the spc900 is that you can only get a small bit of the moon in the frame, so you may well miss it. If you did manage to get the whole of the moon on the 640 x 480 pixel sensor, it will be at such a low resolution that it probably won't pick up the tiny ISS.

If you have a DSLR, that would be better. I managed it, just, with my Canon 450 DSLR a while back: http://stargazerslou...ss#entry1287124

[Nova]

Cheers guys. No, no DSLR available. I've done my homework and am pretty confident I know roughly the line it will take across the moon but realise there is going to be an element of luck involved. And of course predictions aren't always spot on. Cheers again. If I get anything worth sharing ill post it up

[Freddie]

Hope it's clear for you and it goes well.

[bottletopburly]

what time does it transit ?

[cantab]

How accurate is Stellarium for this kind of thing? For my location it predicts a near miss, the ISS appearing 1/4 of a lunar diameter from the Moon.

[Nova]

Sorry Bottletopburly and cantab, for some reason I didnt get an email about your reply. The transit happened on friday 3rd at 23:25. I have had mixed success with the Stellarium satellite plug in. One of my PC's which has the most recent version showed the ISS being way off and another which has the previous version was spot on as far as I could tell they were set up the same in terms of location, When the ISS transits the moon or sun it is a very narrow corridor from the center line that it will be visible from. For example in Worthing I was around 4Km south of the central line but I know there was no transit visible in guildford 40 miles away. For my predictions I use www.calsky.org which is great for all astro related events

Here is a pic that I managed to just capture the ISS in. Visible top left. The scope was aimed a little too low and it was very windy. Its not a great pic but Im just pleased that the prediction was right esspecially as I talked several other people into coming along. What made this harder was that the ISS was in the earths shadow so we couldnt even see it approaching the moon. You will need to click the pic to enlarge it.

I have also made a short vid of the transit to show just how quick it passed

[bottletopburly]

when would the next iss /moon transit be ?

[lukebl]

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when would the next iss /moon transit be ?

It depends where you are. Check www.calsky.com for your location.