Just saw the ISS go over...through my telescope!

[teh_orph]

I'm very excited - I just watched the ISS go over southern England, through my telescope! I'd never seen the ISS before with my eye or a telescope.

Here's the plot...

Ground Track Plot

It was visible for the best part of five minutes and tracked a large chunk of the sky, at roughly 35 degrees alt. Setting up my equatorial mount in the middle of the street (no garden) and getting weird looks from people, I stuck in a 26x EP and aimed it at the part of the sky I was expecting. I "polar aligned" the scope to rest roughly at the centre of the arc it would make in the sky.

Right on time it appears and it was relatively easy to keep in the shot by moving in RA. I could see definite structure...but nothing recognisable. It got brighter and brighter as it tore across the sky (and you could see its relative orientation changing as it passed) until I had to relocate to the other side of the road for a final passing shot.

Nothing reconisable, but definite structure. It sounds tame but what a rush! Next time, more magnification I think.

[jgs001]

Nice one... I've done this with binos and agree you can easily see shape...

[angusb1]

We saw it last might and thought it was a plane at first because it was so bright. Awesome!

[Doc]

I've tracked it with my 16" dob, hard work but possible, through 16" you can defintely see quite alot of shape.

Well done

[teh_orph]

Ah, 3 am - I just saw the ISS again! I showed it to my house mates when it reached about max 23 deg alt at around 11 pm this eve and they were mildly impressed. I viewed it through the 26x EP + my 2x Barlow. To be honest, it looked just like my first viewing but just bigger

However at 2.25 am this morning it went right over my house and I was waiting for it! Bit of a pain with the eq mount (I changed the latitude setting to make it easier) but using a 65x EP and seeing the thing from directly below was amazing. The lack of Barlow gave a much better picture too.

Anyway you could easily see recognisable structure, despite the speed! You can see the two main banks of solar panels with the living section in between. I'm pretty sure that when it was right over that I could even see a grid pattern on the solar panels! Totally amazing.

Then a quick look at Jupiter, Europa and Ganymede and a quick Uranus. I can hardly see stars given the sky's so bright at the moment that I couldn't begin the hunt for Neptune or McNaught

[george7378]

I also caught the ISS twice with my 130mm scope, and the views were amazing - I could see the solar panels with the truss connecting them to a cluster of modules in the middle.

[teh_orph]

It's such a shame that the you have to take the view in as quickly as possible due to the speed that it's moving!

I also find it impressive that you can see such detail in a structure that's only 100m in size, hundreds of miles away!

[george7378]

I agree - I could only catch wobbly part-views of it, but could still see enough to put a smile on my face. Also, have you tried looking at planes? I looked at a few with 36X magnification, and even at that, you can see the windows on the side, and read the words on the tail! The low magnification and lower speed makes them really easy to track too.

[teh_orph]

Nah I've not tried planes- I'll give it a go! Have you tried watching people's TVs from down the street?

[george7378]

Not yet - being at a dark sky site has advantages for more than just the astronomer...

[LukeSkywatcher]

I observed the ISS with a pair of 10X50 (Lidl Bressers) and i could CLEARLY see 3 main parts (the central station and a solar panel on either side).

It was very small,bright (over exposed) but i could clearly see 3 main components.

This was about 2 yrs ago.

[george7378]

I did it at 180X magnification with my 'scope - would you recommend I try it at a lower magnification? I would like to lower it if I can to make tracking easier, but don't want to lose too much detail.

[teh_orph]

I have a 130P as well (mine's got a 650mm focal length though) so I guess we'd have the same mount? Anyway yeah I think 180x would be far too much with respect to the tracking. It's far too bright at lower magnifications though, so I think extra magnification should make it easier for your eye to see what's going on.

But tracking-wise 180x should be ok (if a bit tough) assuming it's only grazing your horizon since it won't move too fast across the sky. However if it goes right over then I think you'd have no chance at that magnification! 65x was just on the edge of workable for me.

[george7378]

Right - I have an EQ-2 mount (which is quite nice for tracking). My next step down is 90X magnification, so, providing the clouds go away for tonight, I will give it a go. I remember that the ISS was very close to the zenith on the first go, and that is where I had trouble tracking.

Also, if you are looking for planes during the day, be careful of the Sun! I'd recommend doing during sunset as it is safest.

[george7378]

I just saw it again - it was so clear - I could see the colours and positions of the solar panels, and the trusses and modules! This was at 90X magnification.