I Will Have a Naked Eye View of the ISS Over Town This Week, Lets Get Pictures/Video?

originally posted by: worldstarcountry
a reply to: SpaceTracker
Ok so 19 north to Levy county. Got it. I feel like shooting for a January visit is not unreasonable. From what I read there, it does seem like you guys found a great site. Thats a cool shot of the ISS, I bet it looks much clearer through the lens with your eye only right?

Yeah, it does. The eye is much better at perceiving the wide range in brightness between the large but amber solar panels, the bright white radiators, and the metallic crew habitat sections.

a reply to: SpaceTracker
omg bro, can I bring my older sons?? They would be fascinated to see something in space with their own eyes! I would obviously leave the toddlers at home.

a reply to: SpaceTracker

That's pretty cool!
I have to take back what I said (before)about saying that it couldn't be done, I love eating my words, especially when it comes to cool stuff.
I belong to a rather large camera forum and I have seen many things that blow my mind done with cameras and cameras piggy-backed on telescopes, but I have not EVER seen or read anything that pertains to this.

Thanks, I really do appreciate that you took the time to not just mention this, but to also show us what can be done.

That's not to say that I have not seen some really good photographs of the ISS, I have, some that are super quality, but they were taken with fairly expensive cameras and lenses, plus a lot of trial and error. =)

Thanks again!

originally posted by: worldstarcountry
a reply to: SpaceTracker
omg bro, can I bring my older sons?? They would be fascinated to see something in space with their own eyes! I would obviously leave the toddlers at home.

Absolutely! The more the merrier.

originally posted by: wmd_2008

originally posted by: FlyingFox
Unless it's high overhead, don't bother.

When it passes overhead, you can see detail with the naked eye.

If you are taking about the ISS that's rubbish it only appears as what looks like a very bright star travelling quickly across the sky you won't see any detail with just the naked eye.

Some people have sharper eyesight than most (they can see the crescent of Venus at its largest angular size), so it's possible they might see something out of the shape of the ISS. When my mum saw the ISS passing over, she said she could see something sticking out of it (I presume it's the solar panels).

originally posted by: recrisp
a reply to: SpaceTracker

Very interesting.
I have not heard of anyone that could do this with a telescope, is there any photographs or video that we might be able to see?
I know that you can piggy-back a telescope with a DSLR, but I have not heard of any way to track something that is as fast as the ISS.

Any links would be greatly appreciated, I'd love to see this.

Thanks!

There's a few videos on Youtube of telescope footage of the ISS. Here's one:


www.youtube.com...

Our resident ATS member "ng#er" (who's been very quiet lately!) has programmed a very good tracking software, he has a Youtube channel too:


www.youtube.com...

a reply to: wildespace

If you're really lucky you might catch a docking/undocking. A Soyuz very near the station could resolve as a joined object.

originally posted by: wildespace

originally posted by: wmd_2008

originally posted by: FlyingFox
Unless it's high overhead, don't bother.

When it passes overhead, you can see detail with the naked eye.

If you are taking about the ISS that's rubbish it only appears as what looks like a very bright star travelling quickly across the sky you won't see any detail with just the naked eye.

Some people have sharper eyesight than most (they can see the crescent of Venus at its largest angular size), so it's possible they might see something out of the shape of the ISS. When my mum saw the ISS passing over, she said she could see something sticking out of it (I presume it's the solar panels).

They may have sharper eyesight the problem is the brightness and angular size.

a reply to: SpaceTrack
aww wtf?! Well I guess I will just call their club and get ahold of him that way.

a reply to: worldstarcountry
what a fail! I missed every single night through simple forgetfulness. I am going to have to write this stuff down on the fridge or something.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

Set an alarm on your phone for a few minutes before.

a reply to: Saint Exupery

My phone has an alarm?