ISS through a telescope

[star_lord]

Hi All,

Apologies if this has already been discussed on older posts, but I am new to the forum.

Just wondering if anyone has had any luck viewing the ISS through a telescope. I imagine it wont be the easiest feat and it'll probably be a very brief sighting.

Any tips?

Dan

[Stu]

Hi Dan

There are a few discussion threads on here if you have a search around.

I have viewed it several times using a manual alt Az mount and a refractor. I imagine it is also possible with a dob.

Best to get your finder very accurately aligned, and use a wide field eyepiece which gives may x50 magnification.

If you position the scope ahead of ISS using the finder when it is low down it is then relatively easy to get it in the scope view as it passes through.

I found that it's probably best to keep leap frogging iss and allowing it to pass through the FOV rather than trying to constantly track it, although both are possible.

At x50 it is still quite possible to follow, although it gets tricky overhead. At this mag you will see some nice detail ie solar panels etc.

Well worth having a go

Good luck

Stu

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[knobby]

Its possible, but difficult ... It moves pretty quickly so following it is an art form

[star_lord]

Hi Dan

There are a few discussion threads on here if you have a search around.

I have viewed it several times using a manual alt Az mount and a refractor. I imagine it is also possible with a dob.

Best to get your finder very accurately aligned, and use a wide field eyepiece which gives may x50 magnification.

If you position the scope ahead of ISS using the finder when it is low down it is then relatively easy to get it in the scope view as it passes through.

I found that it's probably best to keep leap frogging iss and allowing it to pass through the FOV rather than trying to constantly track it, although both are possible.

At x50 it is still quite possible to follow, although it gets tricky overhead. At this mag you will see some nice detail ie solar panels etc.

Well worth having a go

Good luck

Stu

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

thanks very much stu. yeah I can imagine tracking ahead is the best bet.

I had read that some people like to unmount their scope, but aside from the fact I dont like the idea of wielding an expensive bit of kit around, I also don't fancy standing in my garden looking like an overly zealous pirate...

[star_lord]

Its possible, but difficult ... It moves pretty quickly so following it is an art form make sure you're pre focused and practice on planes if you can

viewing planes! that never even crossed my mind! genius!

[Stu]

Pre focusing is a very good point, you won't have time to focus and follow it other than a quick tweak.

Unmounting the scope could be challenging :-), it's much easier with it on a manual alt AZ with clutches lose so you can swing the scope around quite freely

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[oldfruit]

Relatively easy with a dob, even my wife managed to track it for a couple of seconds and could make out the shape. You don`t need to use very high magnification either. If memory serves we were using about 50x magnification. Roughly aligned ahead of it with the telrad finder and waited for it to come into the field of view through the telescope eyepiece and just follow it from there.

[mister_wavey]

Are planes at the appropriate focus for the ISS? If not, how would you get focus ready?

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

'Astronomy Now' Mag. had an article on SKETCHING the I.S.S. via telescopic views in one of last years editions

[Stu]

'Astronomy Now' Mag. had an article on SKETCHING the I.S.S. via telescopic views in one of last years editions

Now that sounds tricky! How many hands do you need? ;-)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Stu]

Are planes at the appropriate focus for the ISS? If not, how would you get focus ready?

I can't remember exactly but I think focusing on a star would get you reasonably close. I am guessing it could easily be 1k miles away when it appears low down so much further away than a plane.

A bit closer than infinity I s'pose ;-)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[swamp thing]

Relatively easy with a dob, even my wife managed to track it for a couple of seconds and could make out the shape. You don`t need to use very high magnification either. If memory serves we were using about 50x magnification. Roughly aligned ahead of it with the telrad finder and waited for it to come into the field of view through the telescope eyepiece and just follow it from there.

I agree its a doddle with a Dob.

You can track it very easily, keeping it centred in the FOV as you go

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

Now that sounds tricky! How many hands do you need? ;-)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think the sketching article was written by Jeremy 'The Octopus' Perez.

[Dude_with_the_tube]

done it my self in manual mode and even with a go-to dob.not difficult,use low power eye piece and or something with wide FOV.Best i was able to achieve was 14mm 82 deg in 10" dob.Got a lot of detail to see.

[cuivenion]

Would it not be possible to track the ISS with a guider system, if you used the ISS as the guide star? Apologies if this a dumb question, I've not used a guided/motorised mount yet.

[Astro Imp]

I was reading the on line user manual for the Meade LX90 scopes recently and it appears that you can download details of satellite passes and then use this information to track.