Boeing Starliner chasing ISS

[Kon]

I was out last night trying to take a few shots of ISS when I read that the Boeing Starliner was chasing it for docking. It was predicted to have docked by 2310 when the UK pass was happening so I thought i will see it docked; there were delays so my shots show the approach to the ISS. 8" Dob, manual tracking, asi120mc-s, 2x barlow. PIPP and autostakkert. Gif is made of the best frames in the sequence. I also have some of the best stacked frames of ISS. Boeing Starliner is the fuzzy blob. In the second gif, Starliner is roughly 200m away from ISS.

[Mr Spock]

Great set of images. Plenty of detail of the ISS.

[Pete Presland]

Amazing that such events can be captured by earth based equipment

[GrumpiusMaximus]

This is absolutely astonishing!

[Kon]

1 hour ago, Pete Presland said:

Amazing that such events can be captured by earth based equipment

I never thought I would have captured it. If skies are clear tonight, I should be able to capture the docked module.

[Sp@ce_d]

Brilliant capture well done. I haven’t kept up with the passes lately so just happened to look out the window as it came into view & grabbed the binos. Very clear and almost blindingly bright, best view I’ve had of it for some time. It was pretty high as well 38 degrees, normally down in the murk from up here if it’s even clear! Didn’t spot the Starliner though 😏

edit. Actually looking at your last frame I see Starliner is to the left. Is that corrected? As I saw it it looked like a large blob on right with small sharper blob almost attached to left. Like a moon next to Jupiter would appear. I assumed it was the panels reflecting most & the rest of body on left. Maybe it was Starliner? 

Edited May 21, 2022 by Sp@ce_d
Additional info

[Nik271]

That's a fantastic set of images! Never thought something like this was even possible.

I think the manufacturers should develop an 'ISS/Dragon/Starship tracking modes' to offer on their mounts. The maximal slewing speed should be able to cope with it, hopefully.

Edited May 21, 2022 by Nik271

[Stu]

Amazing!!

[JeremyS]

Absolutely fantastic 👍🏻

[Kon]

2 hours ago, Sp@ce_d said:

Brilliant capture well done. I haven’t kept up with the passes lately so just happened to look out the window as it came into view & grabbed the binos. Very clear and almost blindingly bright, best view I’ve had of it for some time. It was pretty high as well 38 degrees, normally down in the murk from up here if it’s even clear! Didn’t spot the Starliner though 😏

edit. Actually looking at your last frame I see Starliner is to the left. Is that corrected? As I saw it it looked like a large blob on right with small sharper blob almost attached to left. Like a moon next to Jupiter would appear. I assumed it was the panels reflecting most & the rest of body on left. Maybe it was Starliner? 

Thanks. The first animation, ISS is coming from W to E. In the second one, it had already gone over me, and direction is Eastwards. In my finderscope I didn't notice anything different than ISS but I was focused on having ISS in the crosshairs and I could have missed it visually. Images are still Dob orientation.

[Kon]

1 hour ago, Nik271 said:

That's a fantastic set of images! Never thought something like this was even possible.

I think the manufacturers should develop an 'ISS/Dragon/Starship tracking modes' to offer on their mounts. The maximal slewing speed should be able to cope with it, hopefully.

I have seen some amazing ISS photos online which track it, so it is possible. I only have a manual Dob.

[vlaiv]

These are truly incredible images!

How do you image with only manually tracked dob?

Do you attempt to track or just wait for earth's rotation to move object thru the fov and take short videos?

[Starwatcher2001]

Stunning, especially using a dob. Really well done.

[Gfamily]

I initially thought that the docking would be timed as it passed over UK, but then I saw that the 23:10 scheduled for the docking was in UT rather than BST. 

As it happens, we had extensive cloud cover at the time - so only saw the ISS briefly as it passed the meridian. 

With binoculars we couldn't see any evidence of the Starliner module. 

 

ETA - got to say, great images 

Edited May 21, 2022 by Gfamily

[Kon]

2 hours ago, vlaiv said:

These are truly incredible images!

How do you image with only manually tracked dob?

Do you attempt to track or just wait for earth's rotation to move object thru the fov and take short videos?

Thanks. Early on I try to track, but as it is coming to zenith I place my crosshair ahead of it and capture a more stable image. I use a RACI and never pay attention on my screen. I shoot one video and then in PIPP reject all the blanks. I manually check which frames are worth putting in autostakkert.

[Epick Crom]

Incredible results Kostas! Your images and animation looks like it came from a professional observatory👍. Great work

[Kon]

5 hours ago, Epick Crom said:

Incredible results Kostas! Your images and animation looks like it came from a professional observatory👍. Great work

Thanks Joe. You make me blush ☺️, but far from professional.