ISS and STS-129 through Telescope !

[Yoda]

Had the good luck today to photograph Atlantis and the ISS through my Telescope again !

This was the first time though I was able to capture both.

 

[PhantomCruiser]

Sweet! I saw the ISS and Shuttle for the first time tonight.

 

[Yoda]

Yeah, they put on a fantastic show at magnitude 3.2 !
Don't get to see that very often !

 

[TSPenguin]

Great capture!

What hardware are you using? And is the picture processed?

 

[Yoda]

Equipment used is a 8" LX90 telescope with a Nikon D70 with 2 x converter shooting at 1/640 with Iso 1000 manually guided.

The only "editing" I did was that the shuttle and ISS were further apart than in the picture so I had to take a seperate image of both and then combine them into one image.

 

[TSPenguin]

Equipment used is a 8" LX90 telescope with a Nikon D70 with 2 x converter shooting at 1/640 with Iso 1000 manually guided.

The only "editing" I did was that the shuttle and ISS were further apart than in the picture so I had to take a seperate image of both and then combine them into one image.

With that kind of exposure, why not take multiple pictures and use a software like registax to enhance the final result?
With source pictures like the one you posted, you should be able to get some really crisp results.

 

[agentgonzo]

With that kind of exposure, why not take multiple pictures and use a software like registax to enhance the final result?
With source pictures like the one you posted, you should be able to get some really crisp results.

I imagine that he took multiple pictures and this was the best of the bunch. With manually guided scopes a lot of the images will be either missing the ISS/STS entirely, or be very blurred. If he has similar images to this, then it will help, but if this is the only one that looked good then it won't.

If they are taken as it passed over a lot of the sky, then the viewing angle will also change between shots and if he has one shot from the start of the pass and one at the end of the pass then they won't be able to stack very well as they will be two completely different viewing angles on the ISS/STS.

 

[TSPenguin]

With a D70 he can shoot a lot of pictures in a short time. I guestimate that it should be possible to salvage 5 good pictures from a small enough angle range for stacking to make sense.

 

[daniash]

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[Yoda]

By manually guiding the pictures I take are "hit and miss"; out of the 114 pictures I took during the pass there were only about 5 consequative pictures that were sharp enough AND in a short enough time to allow for Registack processing ( which I'm working on this AM).

Due to the high speed of the pass ( 4 minutes from horizon to horizon) the angle of the ISS from my viewpoint changes rapidly and usually interfere's with having enough "same angle pictures" for Registack.

But I'll give it a try with the ones I have and let you know the results.
I'm still pretty happy though with what I've got by single frame pictures !

 

[agentgonzo]

I'm still pretty happy though with what I've got by single frame pictures !

Yes, that image is brilliant. I just wish that I'd had time to get a shot of the ISS/STS with my scope before it went to my brother last weekend. :-(

 

[Messierhunter]

Fantastic capture! I long for the day of getting both in one pass, if I can even pull it off before the end of the program. I tried to get the shuttle the night before landing but it went right past a street light, blinding my viewfinder's camera. I took the telescope down to the river the next morning to capture the actual landing though:
[ame="http://vimeo.com/8286762"]STS-129 Landing on Vimeo[/ame]

 

[Yoda]

Nice capture Messierhunter; I hope I can still make it down to Florida next year to actually see a shuttle launch before they retire the fleet.
That has always been my dream and I've tried it twice but both times the launch was posponed and I had to cancel my plans.

 

[Turbinator]

H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-1) approaches ISS, Sept 17, 09:

Shuttle docked:

After STS-120

All found here: http://ralfvandebergh.startje.be/vieuw.php?qid=328303

 

[Andy44]

Are those yours, Turbinator? They're extraordinary!

 

[Tycho]

Turbinator, If these are yours, these are amazing captures!

Excellent capture and timing, yoda. I have yet to find better shots.

 

[bwog]

Had the good luck today to photograph Atlantis and the ISS through my Telescope again !

This was the first time though I was able to capture both.

Wow, that's pretty cool. I wish I could find my telescope. (And for the weather to stop being completely overcast...)

 

[Yoda]

Eventhough these pictures I took aren't bad I'm hoping to get even better results before the shuttle program draws to and end.
I've bought some additional hardware for my scope in the last 3 weeks to refine my focus a bit and am now waiting for a suitable pass of the ISS over my Observatory.
It looks like it won't happen during STS-130 through ( passes too close to the horizon) so better luck next mission.

In the mean time I'll keep practising on the ISS itself.

---------- Post added at 11:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:52 PM ----------

Turbinator, If these are yours, these are amazing captures!



Excellent capture and timing, yoda. I have yet to find better shots.

No those pictures are not his; Ralph van de bergh is a fellow country-man of mine whom lives in The Netherlands (were I'm originally from) and specializes in capturing space-craft through his scope.
He is also one of the first people to have captures a astronaut outside the ISS through his scope ( although this image is still controvertial)

 

[Rocketman527]

How is the light pollution in your area, Yoda? I'm thinking about eventually getting into astrophotography, but I dont know if my area is too light polluted

Nice pictures you make, expensive your scope looks