Bright ISS pass over Melbourne

erick (Eric) · #1 29-12-2007, 05:54 AM

Partly overcast when I went to bed, completely clear when I got up at 4:15!

The ISS was scheduled for a pass over Melbourne with a predicted magnitude of -2.5. And it sure did - a marvellous sight!

Here are the results of my digital point&shoot efforts. There it comes and there it goes past the Moon. Resizing to bring up on the site hasn't been kind to the images. I promise you, the ISS wasn't zig-zagging across the sky

All shots were 10 sec exposure. Sirius is seen in images 02, 03 and 04. The ISS was clearly brighter. Venus was also in the sky and the ISS was not as bright as that lovely planet.

No wonder people are confused when they see a pass like this. It is so bright it must be close, like a plane, but silent!

Eric

iceman (Mike) · #2 29-12-2007, 06:55 AM

Well done Eric, we had a bright pass at 4:30am, I had set the telescope up before I went to bed - set the alarm for 4:15am, and I forgot to check the volume

Of course the alarm didn't wake me up. I woke up at 5:40am with a start and I can't repeat what went through my head

Soooo frustrating, it was going to be a ripper of a pass and I wanted to capture more detail again

erick (Eric) · #3 29-12-2007, 06:57 AM

Sorry Mike. I set two alarms, five minutes apart, went to bed early, but was so excited I was up five minutes before the first was set to go off.

It'll be back!