Space Station

Admittedly not the greatest photo I've ever taken (or maybe it is and I don't know any better), but I managed to snag a shot or two of the Space Station this evening as it passed overhead...

How'd you know when and where the space station will be? Is there a website with a tracker? Also, what does it look like from the ground? (A slowly moving white ball?)

Thanks!

By the way, nice shot!

WOW this is incredible.

Yes how did you know where it would be?

Also did you have this on a mount? or handheld pic?

Wow, very cool Tom.

Amazing. Did you use a tracker mount for it? That's pretty incredible if it was handheld.

turkleten wrote in post #10438354
How'd you know when and where the space station will be? Is there a website with a tracker? Also, what does it look like from the ground? (A slowly moving white ball?)

Thanks!

By the way, nice shot!

Yes. http://www.heavens-above.com is an amazing satellite tracking website. Register, input your location, and it'll list everything that you can visibly see and the timeframe it'll come over, the altitude from the horizon, etc. It's pretty incredible.

And yes, the ISS looks just like a fast moving star. It's not slow, it moves at approximately 5 miles per second, 17,500 MPH, to keep its orbit around Earth. Some nights, I can get 5 minute passes.. Some nights, it's only 30 seconds. The ones that are right overhead are the longer passes, while the lower on the horizon, the shorter. You can't mistake it for an airplane, as its lights are on *all the time*, whereas the airplane will blink on and off.

Hope this helps! And again, amazing photo!

Thanks, everyone!

Ford Mustang named the site - I just discovered it myself. They do a great job of telling you what your sky will show at night.

For a mount, I used my Manfrotto 375B tripod with a Manfrotto 3421 head. It allows me the freedom of movement to follow something that is moving across the sky about as fast as a high-altitude jet. I used live view rather than the viewfinder because I didn't need to have my eye against the camera that way. I set the camera to high-speed burst rather than single shot. I pre-set my focus at infinity by auto-focusing on Venus (very bright in the evening sky just after the sun goes down), then switching to manual focus.

From the ground, it looks like a bright star - just a white dot - moving across the sky.

Excellent shot, better than my attempt with my old 1200mm telescope. Have yet to try it with my 2800mm scope!!

Speaking of scopes, looking for some recommendations for a future purchase. I'm not well-versed in the reflectors and such, but I have really enjoyed looking through my friend's Astro-Physics 4-inch traveller. I don't know though if a 4 inch will satisfy me, given that I'm enjoying shooting with a 400/2.8 lens which is something on the order of a 5.5 inch diameter optic.

Maybe I should get a mount and try to find some sort of eyepiece for it.

I had no idea you could take a picture of it with just a 800mm and get that close. Great job.

Tom -- This is a fantastic shot. I'll have to try to get something similar soon, but we've had too much cloud cover lately.

I like how you captured stars as well in your photo. Thanks for sharing.

very nice

That's freakin' fantastic. Not only did you get the shape, but color as well. Very nice.

gjl711 wrote in post #10537282
That's freakin' fantastic. Not only did you get the shape, but color as well. Very nice.

No doubt, didn't know it was possible to get that nice of a shot from that far away. Very nice indeed.

Kind of looks like a TIE Fighter...but a great image and stupendous capture none the less.