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Old 27-03-2009, 06:57 AM
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iceman (Mike)
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Gosford, NSW, Australia
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ISS with Discovery STS-119 and new S6 solar panel

Hi all

It's been a week but I finally got around to processing these images.

On the mornings of Friday 20th and Sunday 22nd March I had a few bright passes of the International Space Station (ISS) over my location. The great thing was that the Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-119) was docked at the time so I was hoping for good seeing and hoping I'd be able to track it accurately.

I was able to capture reasonably detailed images during both passes, but of course you always want more. For the image on the 20th, my shutter speed was a little too slow so the frames were a bit soft. The lighting and angle meant the backside of the shuttle was facing us and was not illuminated and could not be resolved.

The image from the 22nd shows a lot of detail and structure in the radiators and also includes the new S6 solar panel that was installed by the STS-119 crew on the 21st March. Space Shuttle Discovery is barely visible - only it's tail is illuminated and was just about the noise level.

Please read more about the challenges of these captures at:

International Space Station with Discovery Docked

Thanks for looking.
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