Got the ISS image I NEVER thought I would be able to

[FranTeryda 29]

Hi! I'm Fran

Not so long ago I took a picture of the ISS I never thought I was going to be able to get with the equipment I have. 

After saving for a long time, I was able to buy my first scope, an OTA Skywatcher 200P. I adapted it to be used in a dobsonian base because it was the cheapest way I had to get it to work.

One night, I thought it might be cool to try to aim and record with my phone an ISS pass overhead. During the first attempt, I messed up the focus extremely bad but you can't  imagine how happy I was to get a white blob in a frame that only I knew was the ISS. 

The following afternoon I tried again. This time the flyby was almost exactly overhead and the night was crystal clear. So I manually tracked the station looking through the finder scope and recording it with my phone at 1080p 60fps. Without much expectations I downloaded the files into my computer to review them.  And was shocked with the results.

The video was processed with PIPP, AutoStakkert and RegiStax. 

 

If someone told me the image was taken with a phone and manually tracked with a shitty dobsonian base I would not believe him! I got really lucky that night, but I can not be happier with the results. I believe I got to the edge of what I can accomplish with the equipment that I was able to buy. I'm not sure if ext step up should be a real camera or a mount. Anyway, any of them are too expensive

If you want to see the frames before processing (and some nice shots of the moon that night), I'll leave a link to the video where I show them:

 

Thank you so much for reading it all.

Cheers,

Fran

[_Rachael_ 34]

Great shot! That's really impressive!!! I've been thinking of having a go of getting the ISS on my Skywatcher 150pl telescope and maybe using the video on my S10e smartphone - how difficult is this? I imagine the ISS is moving at a fair clip compared to the background stars? I've got tracking on my EQ mount but no idea what speed I'd use for the ISS - if you can track it manually with the slow motion controls I'd definitely give it a shot.

I' definitely be interested to see a link to the pre-processing frames. [edit: I'm dumb and didn't spot the video link - the YouTube images are really good!)

Edited September 8, 2020 by _Rachael_

[John 33,653]

Amazing what is possible with simple tech !

I tried to get the ISS crossing the moon with my DSLR mounted on an undriven scope and got it in a couple of frames which I have made into an animated GIF. The whole crossing took just a second or two and the moons was partially behind tree branches so I was pleased to even get it in 2 frames:

 

 

[maw lod qan 2,249]

Very nice capture. 

I've tried several attempts, going from just a bright wiggling blob at first to an image where you can start to see solar panels with a bright central section.

But my attempts were single images snapped with an interval timer as I moved my DOB by hand.

[Second Time Around 654]

Wow, that's stunning! Many congratulations!

[x6gas 1,357]

Astounding!  Well done.

[Ruud 3,254]

Oh, Fran, this is wonderful!

I'll also watch it on YouTube proper to leave a like there.

[FranTeryda 29]

On 08/09/2020 at 05:47, John said:

Amazing what is possible with simple tech !

I tried to get the ISS crossing the moon with my DSLR mounted on an undriven scope and got it in a couple of frames which I have made into an animated GIF. The whole crossing took just a second or two and the moons was partially behind tree branches so I was pleased to even get it in 2 frames:

 

 

Nice one! That photograph is way more difficult, you have to be extremely precise! 

[TerryMcK 1,038]

Very good results with a mobile phone and a Dob. It just shows what can be done with modern consumer technology. Well done.