IIS/STS attempt - best to keep this one quiet

[davidpretorius]

It was never goint to be easy, forecast of -3 over night, IIS / STS coming out of the earths shadow at aprox 5:42am at say 65 degrees and then heading further east. It was already going to be small.

10pm:
Anyway, got the toucam in at prime focus ie f5 (208x), set exposure on canopus roughly the same magnitude, 1/500th and 10 fps. Align the guide scope and toucam, kept the peltiers going over night and go to bed.

5:30am, -4 degrees ambient, mirror -3.5 degrees, ice can be seen 80% of the way down the inside of the tube, but mirror is clear of any ice or condensation.

Seeing still horrible at 1/10

Anyway, 1 minute later than starry night predicted, there it is and boy is it moving fast. Already had an avi of running, so start hand guiding whilst looking thru guide scope.

The end result 8 frames out of 1800 that have something.

By the time, something had registered, it wsa getting very low on the horizon.

Anyway, it was very exciting, I am very pleased with the cooling system and telescope in very cold conditions.

Here is the best frame, cropped, converted to greyscale and deconvoluted in Astra image.

Please contain giggling til you are off the forum out of respect for mike and the mods :D

[[1ponders]]

Good onya Dave:cool2: At least you now have your first ISS shot for the collection. And look how much you've learnt; if it's 1/10 stick to binoculars :lol:

Congrat anyway :)

[davidpretorius]

thanks paul :D

[ving]

good one dave :)

really, well done :)

[iceman]

Awesome mate, well done!

[matt]

There's nothing shabby about that Davo.

Would not have been an easy capture.

Well done!:thumbsup:

[davidpretorius]

thanks guys, i dare not show wes higgins' great capture

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/1036194/page/0/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1#Post1039184

[h0ughy]

great showing, we saw it on the horizon up here in newcastle to the east. was dim too, tomorrow morning is -.8 for us directly overhead

[RB]

That's awesome David.

You've done very well on a most difficult object.

:clap: :clap: :clap: :cheers:

[davidpretorius]

i tell you, i know i am addicted to this hobby as I was previewing what was going to happen in starry night last night and was getting excited even then!

[asimov]

Way to goooo...Davoooo!!!! :eyepop: :) :thumbsup:

That deserves a strut, wooo-hooo!:thumbsup:

[davidpretorius]

nude of course

[h0ughy]

dave out of curiousity, what magnification did you have. I am planning to use the pentax with the 50 to 500 lens on the tripod iso 1600 or 800, fstop as low as I can go, might try the Canon on time exposure for 1 or two minutes

[davidpretorius]

the toucam at prime focus in my 10" f5 gives me 208x

there are a few cloudy night threads that i based it on one from Wes Higgins and Elias

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/1036194/page/0/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/1032444/page/0/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1

[gbeal]

Good attempt Davo, at least you gave it a go. I read somewhere that the LX200 system can handle the mathematics required to track it, as per Houghy's post. To hand/eyeball it like you did and get anything is a great acheivement.

[h0ughy]

thanks Dave, now in camrea speak I will have to just test, you guys were toucamming

[h0ughy]

ok so with a 1.5 time magnification parameter for the pentax at 500mm should give me 750 times magnification. Well I might step it back a bitand try somewhere between 300 and 500 and try my luck

[davidpretorius]

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/attachments/1033656-iss2.JPG
shows how it changes with size.

mine was captured when it really out to sea so to speak.

it really was moving very fast throught the guide scope.

if you can get 300x or even a bit more when it is right overhead, then it will be fantastic.

weather gods......all jetstream and clouds to be redirected to tasmania for the next few days thanks!!!! ie KEEP AWAY FROM NSW!

[[1ponders]]

Sorry to disappoint h0ughy, but your 500mm lens on a DSLR won't give you 750X. Try about 15X

Roughly divide your FL (500) by 50 then multiply by 1.5 -1.6 to work out the mag.

[h0ughy]

:rolleyes: :doh: :thumbsup:

[beren]

:thumbsup: Awesome Davo congrats mate

[iceman]

Strike another one up for the dobbers! :P

[Dennis]

Hi Dave

That is an outstanding result - I take my hat off to you!

Cheers

Dennis

[sheeny]

Great effort Dave!:thumbsup:

Al.

[CoombellKid]

You might like to check this guy out, he's from a solar observers group
I belong to. Great snap of Discovery docked to ISS and a couple of
transits across the sun.

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/satcom_transits/index.html


regards,CS sunny days

Rob

[davidpretorius]

:jawdrop:
no more need be said. fantastic!