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ISS Tonight over SW France

davefrance

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davefrance

davefrance

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Superb image that's much better than I've managed to achieve - well done.

Please will you describe the equipment and methodology used so that I can see if I can replicate it one day.

Thanks in advance.

Not very scientific. Equinox ED80 + Powermate X2 + Canon 600D, hand held.  I find it best to lie on the ground and support the scope/camera with hands and knees. Focus is the main problem as it is difficult to keep the ISS steady in the viewfinder for long enough to gauge accurately. I just try and get the image as small as possible, that usually means it is reasonably in focus. Once I have focussed I just hold the button down, camera set to continuous and do my best to keep it in view. The rest is down to the position of the sun and how much of the ISS it being lit up. I have found that the closer to being overhead (90 deg.) the larger the image as you are reducing the distance between you and the satellite and any atmospheric interference. I may get one or two good shots out of a full pass.

Hope that helps

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A40farinagolf

A40farinagolf

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Thanks,

Presumably the shutter speed and ISO are quite high? I would guess at something like 1/200th sec @ ISO1600 - What did you use? 

I have the same camera but my scopes are 2350mm and 909mm FL.

My 130APO would be a closer match to your 1000mm FL set but very unwieldy so would need to mount in Alt Az to support during tracking.

Has the image been sharpened?

Looking forward to you response.

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Stu

Stu

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Not very scientific. Equinox ED80 + Powermate X2 + Canon 600D, hand held. I find it best to lie on the ground and support the scope/camera with hands and knees. Focus is the main problem as it is difficult to keep the ISS steady in the viewfinder for long enough to gauge accurately. I just try and get the image as small as possible, that usually means it is reasonably in focus. Once I have focussed I just hold the button down, camera set to continuous and do my best to keep it in view. The rest is down to the position of the sun and how much of the ISS it being lit up. I have found that the closer to being overhead (90 deg.) the larger the image as you are reducing the distance between you and the satellite and any atmospheric interference. I may get one or two good shots out of a full pass.

Hope that helps

I might give that a go with the Tak. It's very light for its aperture so might be doable. It's 740mm focal length, may just leave it at that or try the PM. Bit of fun anyway :)
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davefrance

davefrance

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Thanks,

Presumably the shutter speed and ISO are quite high? I would guess at something like 1/200th sec @ ISO1600 - What did you use? 

I have the same camera but my scopes are 2350mm and 909mm FL.

My 130APO would be a closer match to your 1000mm FL set but very unwieldy so would need to mount in Alt Az to support during tracking.

Has the image been sharpened?

Looking forward to you response.

The resulting image is tiny so a large crop is needed to make it a reasonable size. This is why focus is so important. From memory shutter speed was 1/1000 and ISO 1600. I will check tomorrow. It is very bright when overhead, normally -3.3. Any slower shutter speed and you get blurr because of the speed of the ISS and hand holding everything. This image was sharpened slightly, do it too much and it doesn't look right. Give it a go, I think you will find it extremely difficult to follow on a mount it really is moving fast and the telescope will be nearly vertical.

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davefrance

davefrance

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A truly amazing picture - all the more since I'm only about 2 hours drive from you and haven't seen sun, moon, stars or ISS for nearly two weeks!  Super job.

Thanks.

Only had one real cloudy night recently, the moon has been incredibly bright. Clear skies are not good for the temperature, forecast is 6 degrees tonight.

There are no visible sightings of ISS at the moment. There will be some very early morning ones soon.

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ChrisLX200

ChrisLX200

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I'm waiting for an opportunity to try imaging the ISS myself, I've figured out how to get my mount to track it but of course there's been continuous cloud ever since. A good example of what can be achieved is here: http://forum.10micron.eu/album_page.php?pic_id=185 but I do not expect to get anything as good as that!

ChrisH

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davefrance

davefrance

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I'm waiting for an opportunity to try imaging the ISS myself, I've figured out how to get my mount to track it but of course there's been continuous cloud ever since. A good example of what can be achieved is here: http://forum.10micron.eu/album_page.php?pic_id=185 but I do not expect to get anything as good as that!

ChrisH

This guy's not too shabby at it either :)

http://www.astrophoto.fr

Comparing their equipment to mine, I don't think I've done too bad.  :smiley:

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