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ISS closeup 2

long_arms

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long_arms

long_arms

Posted
Posted

Hello,

Not sure if this is worthy of a new topic, but I'm not sure how to add photos in a post :/

I took another closeup image of the ISS last night. Same settings as last time skywatcher 200p f/5 (no barlow) and point grey firefly mono.

It was completely clouded over, then around 5 minutes before the pass ( I had optimistically set up) it cleared enough to see arcturus and vega (literally that was it).

I hit record though and had a short moment where I spotted it, swang the telescope around and got 1 good frame out of the clouds! So happy!

post-26081-0-18866100-1370725200_thumb.p

Dan

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Ant

Ant

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A few people on SGL have managed to capture close up images of the ISS (I'm not one of them), and from what I've read it isn't easy. So a big pat on the back for getting anything at all, let alone the cracking images you posted.

Your image shows some nice details including what I'm guessing will be the solar panels and living modules.

Great job,

Ant

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scoobee

scoobee

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I failed tonight with my Canon 600mm f4 lens with x1.4TC and my IR modified Canon 60D, I missed the focus on 170 exposures so they went into the bin lol Exposure was good at 1/500second @ f5.6 iso 400

My I ask?! How would you do the trails?

I shall be using an 650D 18-55 lens @f3.5/f4 iso 800

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Photosbykev

Photosbykev

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My I ask?! How would you do the trails?

I shall be using an 650D 18-55 lens @f3.5/f4 iso 800

I was after single frames of the ISS rather than a trail so I could stack then. To shoot a trail set the camera up on a tripod and focus on a star using live view at x10 mag. I would use an exposure of 30 seconds @ f4 iso 400 and shoot continuously as the ISS passes through the frame.

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scoobee

scoobee

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I was after single frames of the ISS rather than a trail so I could stack then. To shoot a trail set the camera up on a tripod and focus on a star using live view at x10 mag. I would use an exposure of 30 seconds @ f4 iso 400 and shoot continuously as the ISS passes through the frame.

Many thanks, I do need to buy a wideangle lens but cannot afford a f2.8, would an f4 be fine for widefield imaging?

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Photosbykev

Photosbykev

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Many thanks, I do need to buy a wideangle lens but cannot afford a f2.8, would an f4 be fine for widefield imaging?

You can shoot widefield with an f4 but use an iso around 1600 and shoot dark frames to counter the noise.
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long_arms

long_arms

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Wow thanks for all the lovely comments guys :laugh: !

Its certainly a little uncomfortable but I have to say its pretty exciting...feels great when you watch it back and see it fly around the screen!

thats pretty impressive Dan. don't suppose you'd like to give away your secrets? Camera settings tracking method etc ;)

Haha I track it manually, all clutches loosened (obviously) one hand gripping the mirror end and another over the aperture end then use the telrad which I spend a lot of time aligning with a star beforehand.

I track it across the sky as best I can however I often let it drift through the fov and repeat that for the whole pass. The meridian flip is always traumatic :p !

I use my little firefly mono. No gain, running 60fps and arooound 3 ms shutter speed.

I don't even try stacking just pick out a sharp frame and crop then upscale.

dan :smiley:

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scoobee

scoobee

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Wow thanks for all the lovely comments guys :laugh: !

Its certainly a little uncomfortable but I have to say its pretty exciting...feels great when you watch it back and see it fly around the screen!

Haha I track it manually, all clutches loosened (obviously) one hand gripping the mirror end and another over the aperture end then use the telrad which I spend a lot of time aligning with a star beforehand.

I track it across the sky as best I can however I often let it drift through the fov and repeat that for the whole pass. The meridian flip is always traumatic :p !

I use my little firefly mono. No gain, running 60fps and arooound 3 ms shutter speed.

I don't even try stacking just pick out a sharp frame and crop then upscale.

dan :smiley:

Thanks for the advice, but why no gain?! sorry a tad new to imaging.

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long_arms

long_arms

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Unfortunately there's nothing in the sky bright enough to set up the camera with before an ISS pass. Apart from focusing on a bright one obviously.

So I use ISS passes (usually around -3 mag) as sort of benchmarks.

With my telescope at f/5 even with a very short shutter speed I'm still overexposing but with no gain I have produced the 2 images that are reasonable.

I am going to experiment with a little gain and an even shorter shutter speed but I need an ISS pass to do so.

Dan

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mikehab

mikehab

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Dan - That's a fantastic capture - many congrats. That's pretty impossible to do with a motorized mount I think - so the manual 'slewing' of the mount certainly works ;-)

Kev -

My I ask?! How would you do the trails?

I shall be using an 650D 18-55 lens @f3.5/f4 iso 800

You can easily capture the ISS trail with a long (20-30sec) exposure using the standard 18-55 kit lens - no real special equipment needed as long as you have a DSLR with a BULB or long exposure setting. Just stick the camera on a tripod pointing in the direction of where the ISS is passing and open the shutter for 20-30 secs. When I've done it I've usually gone for the wider (18mm) end, and set focus to manual & focus on the stars first - take a few 20-30 test shots beforehand to make sure you've got the focus spot-on. Once happy with the focus leave well-alone until the ISS comes into view and then use a remote-control shutter release to do a 20-30 sec exposure.

IMG_2671.JPG

IMG_5051_processed.jpg

If you repeat and take multiple 20 sec shots one after the other then you can also stack them...

ISS-2013-04-15.jpg

I would be much happier if I bagged a close-up shot like Dan's though ;-)

Cheers,

Mike

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