ISS

[Stu]

Oh....... bother!

Well I'm heading off camping to a nice dark site soon with the kiddies and all the kit so that further guarantees cloud

Stu

[Viv]

Stu - oh dear, I think we'll both be in trouble ..........

[allcart]

Almost got it tonight.

Internet went down early evening so I couldn't check the time. I finally got it up and running with a dongle and when I checked the ISS site I had 2 minutes to get out there. I grabbed the camera and stuck it on the tripod and rushed outside, just in time to see it fly over. I held up the tripod and took a handheld shot while trying to brace myself on the wall. I managed a squiggly line about 2cms long on the frame before the ISS went over my roof. Grrrr

Last chance tomorrow. I'm going to go out somewhere with a clear view, and hope we have a clear sky.

I will get a photo if it kills me.

[Skylook123]

For the last six years or so I've had a lot of luck tracking the ISS with a 10" SCT on an Orion Atlas EQ-G (Synta EQ-6). There is a software package out there called Satellite Tracker this is primarily designed for LX-200 mounts, so it produces its acquisition and guiding in LX formatting. The EQMOD/EQASCOM freeware has a utility called EQMODLX that converts Meade speak into ASCOM compatible commands to drive Synta equatorial mounts. You have to download the Satellite Tracker freeware, then Hardware Virtual Serial Port, and EQASCOM/EQMODLX, and the latest ASCOM package compatible with your Synta, and learn how to acquire the latest satellite ephemeris, and how to install and run all of these tools. But, if you use the awesome capabilities of EQASCOM to get a spot on stellar alignment, I've become 10 for 10 in nailing the ISS. as well as the Space Shutlle when it was flying and doing its mating dances with the ISS.

This is not an easy task to undertake, but when you get it to work it will sing opera. Last June at the Grand Canyon Star Party, fifty other telescopes were on various eye candy for the 1400 visitors so I saw we had not only an ISS pass, but a Hubble Space Telescope pass forty five seconds later. So, although I was too busy with the organization of the nightly activities to get a good six star alignment, I was able to nail the satellites in the Telrad. I told the fifty visitors at my scope "Wait for it, wait for it" and when I got the alert in Satellite Tracker that ISS had cleared the horizon I hit the Start Tracking button and the mount zoomed across the sky a couple of degrees ahead, waited for ISS to catch up, then followed it centered in the Telrad. It was still in twilight at acquisition, but as the visitors watched the Telrad the satellite brightened as it rose. Highly impressive.

If you have an HEQ-5/EQ-6 mount, start with the Satellite Tracker Yahoo user group and follow the download/install instructions, download HW Virtual Serial Port, download and install the ASCOM freeware, and download the latest EQMOD/EQASCOM/EQMODLX freeware from the EQASCOM/EQMOD Yahoo Group. All you should need is the Satellite Tracker code if you are running LX-200. Quite a lot of fun, actually. Instructions for all this is on the EQMOD Yahoo group. Oh, then there is the satellite ephemeris download, which has to be very current since the ISS drops like a stone between Soyuz/Progress reboosts, and it is essential that your coordinates and computer clock time be dead on perfect (think how fast ISS moves, and what a half second off would mean). I've seen some mind altering AVI files from recorded passes at high power.

A bit of warning, Satellite Tracker operates by sending RA/DEC rate changes through the pass; Synta stops the track, changes the rate, and picks up the new rate. Not a problem at less than 60 degrees elevation or so, but higher passes overwhelm the mount due to the stop/start cycle on every rate change. Thierry Legault has found a work around, and there are a couple of other fixes that may be out there in the last few weeks, but I've had pneumonia for three weeks and have been somewhat out of the loop.

SO awesome when it works.

[Enrico]

Wow. This is going to get complex. I guess super, super accurate alignment is the key and then the software can do its job.

[Skylook123]

Alignment and clock time on the driving computer are both essential. When you get them right, it is quite remarkable an experience. Best of luck!

[The Sailor]

Just checked this thread to see some info on the ISS, was out doing some solar work and playing with the PST, watching the screen to adjust when I caught a fleeting glimpse of what I can only believe to be the ISS going across the face of the sun. It was quite large and it's solar panels were quite plain to see even in the blink of an eye, hopefully I am right but then again I did not have the camera rolling .

Jim

[jason24483]

I've managed a few times with my 1145p goto and 32mm eyepiece!

I used to get confused when tracking it when using the ⬆⬇⬅➡ buttons of the handset!

Turning the handset upside down and using it that way works better if that makes any sense?

Nice to look at but it is bright and fast!