keeping an eye on the ISS

[wmdragon]

I've been keeping track of ISS flyovers with Heavens Above. this morning I watched a great pass right overhead. what kind of magnification would be required to see any level of detail of the station, even if it's an outline? thanks <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#993366"><em>The only laws of matter are those which our minds must fabricate, and the only laws of mind are fabricated for it by matter.</em> <br /> --- James Clerk Maxwell</font></p> </div>

 

[vogon13]

Watch for passes at your location when Soyuz, Progress, or Shuttles are near the ISS.<br /><br />Point them out to friends, relatives and passersby! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[wmdragon]

Ive seen it, years ago some coworkers and I went out one evening in the middle of Manhattan to catch the shuttle chasing the ISS. it was amazing, getting such a good show in a sky-unfriendly place like midtown (with the skyscrappers, pollution and all). passerbys were very puzzled by our group standing on the corner, excitedly looking up and pointing at the sky. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#993366"><em>The only laws of matter are those which our minds must fabricate, and the only laws of mind are fabricated for it by matter.</em> <br /> --- James Clerk Maxwell</font></p> </div>

 

[wmdragon]

by small magnification you mean a good set of binoculars? all I had at the time was a cheap monocular, didnt show much <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#993366"><em>The only laws of matter are those which our minds must fabricate, and the only laws of mind are fabricated for it by matter.</em> <br /> --- James Clerk Maxwell</font></p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

I don't think you'll see much with binoculars; a modest telescope is probably a minimum. I have seen photographs of the ISS taken from the ground. Here are a few of the more remarkable ones. Take note in particular of the sun transits; these will give you an idea of the angular extent of the ISS. Based on those, I'd estimate that with my 130mm Newtonian, it would be a real challenge to actually recognize the ISS, although it would definintely be more than a single point of light.<br /><br />ISS and Discovery transit the Sun (APOD for July 29, 2005)<br /><br />A remarkable view of ISS and Discovery transiting the Sun during Discovery's backflip for the heatshield inspection<br /><br />Video of ISS transiting the Moon due to contrast, it's hard to make out details, but you can tell it's more than a point; this was with an 8" Celestron, apparently<br /><br />The best I've seen, bar none, are here: Analemma.de. Click "astrophotography" and scroll down to find links to pictures of the ISS, Mir, and animations of both spacecraft. Amazingly, many of these are taken with only a 90mm 'scope, but I believe he's taken multiple digital frames and then stacked them to make this visible. Additionally, the telescope is manually slewed to track the station during the pass. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[wmdragon]

thanks Calli, great pics. I will resign myself to the fast moving bright point for now. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#993366"><em>The only laws of matter are those which our minds must fabricate, and the only laws of mind are fabricated for it by matter.</em> <br /> --- James Clerk Maxwell</font></p> </div>

 

[lunatio_gordin]

oh! i have a good one. I posted it before, but not so many people venture into Space Business or whatever...<br />It's the ISS passing in front of the moon. (my desktop!)

 

[aerospacealpha]

Wow! Those are amazing pictures of the ISS. From my one experience of watching the ISS, it requires a fairly quick tracking device to really get pictures of it, particurally if you are using a telescope. Take note though of the blurred images or slightly blurred images. I'm not sure what they were using, but I think I would recommend film that captures fast moving objects. Telescopes or binoculars I can't really recommend since I don't have that much experience yet with telescopes or binoculars. This is just my 2 cents <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" />