ISS

[Steve_meg]

First of all sorry if this is the wrong section,

I was having a conversation a few nights back while showing my friend my new telescope. He asked if you could see satelites or the ISS to which I said no. however after searching I have found you can see the ISS.

now my question is, can I use the 6se to view the ISS?

Everything I have read has been people using EQ mounts (manual I believe), so would imagine it is very hard to use the handcontroller to find it. I do have a jessop 1100 102 as well but again not sure where to point it as the mount is very poor in terms of markings.

any help welcome

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The ISS is a naked eye object, as are many satellites. Tracking the ISS with a 6" SCT is going to be hard (likewise with my 8"), so I use my 15x70 binoculars for preference.

[emadmoussa]

You can actually see it without a telescope. It depends on your manoeuvrability and speed to lock on it ... it moves very fast in the sky.

[SHUTTLE ATLANTIS]

love seeing the space station coming over she flys approx 250 miles high and approx 17,000 mph now thats shifting a

allways amazes me that there are astronuts on her what a view they have of us and we have of them .

[DirkSteele]

I have been able to track the ISS (and the Shuttle back in the day) using a simple Alt-Az mount by hand at up to 100x magnification with one of my small Apo refractors. At 60x the ISS looks a bit like a Tie Fighter from Star Wars. The technique is to get the scope about 5 degrees in front of the path of the object of interest and then as it appears in the field of view of the EP start tracking. Only problem with this technique is it is very difficult to show it to someone else unless they do the tracking themselves.

[AndyWB]

I've tracked it by hand with my scope - but it moves at a fair clip! I don't know if a motorised scope would slew fast enough?

Binos would probably be better - but I had the scope in my hand, and wanted to have a go... It was the brightest thing in the sky, I think the forecast said magnitude -3, so very definitely visible!

You can see a lot of satellites in the sky with your eyes only, when you're away from streetlights.

[ronin]

As already said it is a visible object, actually very bright and if you are looking up difficult not to see. Realistically it moves too fast to track with a scope. Binoculars are good and depending on the binoculars and the attached eyes you may see some shape/structure.

Unfortunately it isn't around for your area or really the UK in general until the beginning of August, 23:06 on Aug 4 is the first reasonable one, there are several before this but at 3 and 4 in the morning. There is one at 21:32 the same day but it remains low in the sky, the 23:06 gets higher.

Worth going out to look for and see.

[MattGoo]

There are plenty of phone apps or websites that show you when the ISS is passing overhead. It does move surprisingly fast, so either eyeballs or binoculars are probably best. Some people have managed to see it using a scope (and/or take images of it) but I think all of which are manually tracked.

[phw26]

If you go to http://www.heavens-above.com it will give you the times of visible passes along with many other satellites. The ISS is very easy to see with the naked eye but difficult to catch with a telescope due to its speed.

The best times to see satellites is an hour or so after sunset when the sky is dark and the light from the sun is shining high above onto the satellites allowing is to see them. Many a time I have been observing an object thro my scope and a satellite has wizzed through.

Hope this helps.

[Dennistutt]

Agree with Mattgoo - don't forget to wave as it passes over.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I've tracked it by hand with my scope - but it moves at a fair clip! I don't know if a motorised scope would slew fast enough?

Binos would probably be better - but I had the scope in my hand, and wanted to have a go... It was the brightest thing in the sky, I think the forecast said magnitude -3, so very definitely visible!

You can see a lot of satellites in the sky with your eyes only, when you're away from streetlights.

I agree. I dont think a motorised scope will slew fast enough. Ive eaily kept it in my FOV with my Heritage 130P. Ive also had no trouble tracing it with 10x50 bins. Ive also captured it in video mode on a simple point and shoot digi cam.