ISS lunar transit

[Peter Ward]

I was delighted to see that CalSky predicted an ISS moon crossing/transit last night, the centreline was just 1km from my Observatory...plus... predictably as it was a full moon, it would have to be clear :)

But how to capture it? As there are not too many ISS transit images taken through large telescopes, I transferred my trusty PGR to the Alluna 16.

Humm..quite a narrow field...if the prediction was off... I'd likely miss it entirely :question:

I decided to go for broke...I figured there more than enough transit images out there from 4-5" 'scopes.

Looking at the capture screen at the appointed time: nothing.

But..just 3 seconds later...whooshka!!

Bagged four frames with the big space-bird in flight!!! :cool:

I then went on to take 8 more fields to cover the entire moon, with the usual Avistack post-process that I use on my solar images.

So the result? The link is here (http://www.atscope.com.au/BRO/gallery401.html)

[deanm]

*Very* impressive - outstanding detail!
Dean

[h0ughy]

what an awesome result Peter

[croweater]

Wow Peter that is stunning :thumbsup: ,cheers Richard

[Atmos]

Pretty nice Peter :)

[RobF]

Choke. That's stunning. Been staring at this too long.... :)

[multiweb]

Great catch! Awesome shot. :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

[sheeny]

Love your work, Peter.

Al.

[CJ]

Wow! :eyepop:

[Peter Ward]

Thanks gentlemen...I must I am admit quite proud of this one, as while there had been many close passes in the past, or those where the weather didn't co-operate, it was nice to finally nail it.

I've since added the CALSKY data (to remove any doubt of the data's veracity) plus a captioned hi-res crop of the ISS. Same URL (http://www.atscope.com.au/BRO/gallery401.html)

Hope you enjoy the view :thumbsup:

[leon]

Wow that is so good, love it, crisp and clear, spot on.

Leon

[jwoody]

That is a great capture. Congratulations, you must be very proud of that one.
Jeremy

[Retrograde]

Fabulous work. I've see quite a number of great ISS transit captures but none that come close to this. :eyepop:

[lazjen]

That is brilliant - great capture.

[pfitzgerald]

Absolutely, gob smackingly awesome capture Peter. A superb image. Congratulations on capturing it.

Paul

:jawdrop:

[JA]

Great catch :thumbsup:

Best
JA

[Rigel003]

Quite apart from the IIS, which is amazingly sharp, it's a stunning shot of the full moon.

[Goro]

This just became my new desktop image....if you don't mind? Great shot!!!:eyepop:

[OzEclipse]

Stunner Pete.

Joe

[Peter Ward]

A heartfelt thank you to one and all for your feedback.

I guess it's a keeper then :thanx:

Some recognition also needs to go to Arnold Barmettler...author of the CalSky site....a superlative resource for predicting the whereabouts of low earth-orbit objects :thumbsup:

[kinetic]

I'm always in awe of your work Peter,
you always deliver...WOW!

Steve

[Martin Pugh]

Just excellent. An APOD without doubt.

well done Peter.

cheers
Martin

[Peter Ward]

Thanks Martin...high praise indeed.

As to whether Jerry & Co. agree...well we'll see....I've always found APOD's to be more of a challenge :)



Glad you liked it :thumbsup:

[deanm]

I agree with Martin - APOD material!
Dean

[alan meehan]

peter catch of the day for sure
AL

[bratislav]

That is just brilliant. Outstanding capture! Sense of scale is just so immense. Never had that with any other ISS transit pic, this one surely is very special.

Bratislav

[Peter Ward]

Thanks guys...as to whether it gets to be an APOD is out of my hands. I however did some re-processing, plus added a nice little roll-over image to the web page I linked to (it's here (http://www.atscope.com.au/BRO/gallery401.html) to save you looking again)

I had no idea I caught Surveyor 7 in the same image as well :)

[Derek Klepp]

That's a beauty.

[astronobob]

Total RIPPER stuff Peter, wohooo !!!

[beren]

Late with the congratulations but wow that is brilliant, Apod for sure :thumbsup:

[Paul Haese]

Well that stuffs my chances in the Solar system section next year. Nice image and big too.

[xelasnave]

Wonderful.
I have been showing folk around me.
You are a star.
Alex

[batema]

Beautiful capture and so sharp. Great work Peter.

[Peter Ward]

Thanks again gentlemen, in particular Paul , but I don't think you should be concerned about how it might rate at next year's Malins.

Something rather larger than the ISS will be going in front of the Sun in about a month :)