Clear dark skies out here tonight til the moon rose. Luckily saw ISS somewhere around 9.15-9.30pm (didn't have a watch on).
Moving from NW eventually traveling directly overhead towards the SE it was extremely bright. I would say equally as bright and seemed almost as large as Venus it eventually faded as it travelled towards the horizon.
Those times are correct. Last night, ISS was overhead at 21:20 as predicted by Heavens-Above. Tonight is not the best pass - max elevation 29 deg, magnitude -0.3 at 21:41:36. But it will be clearly visible.
Tomorrow night (Wed 27th), clouds permitting, will be another great sight. -2.4 magnitude. 10 deg up at 20:24:59 and coming in from NW, overhead at 77 deg at 20:27:53, and vanishing SE into the earth's shadow (probably) down around 10 deg at 20:30:50. Almost as good as Monday night. Get out the time exposure camera on a tripod and snap some long exposures, then post here.
Edit: Those times are for my Knoxfield location. Elsewhere in greater Melbourne could be several seconds different. Heavens-Above allows you to put in your coordinates, or select your exact location from the map.
I wandered out under clouds to see if I could see the ISS. Far from ideal conditions - still very light, lots of clouds... still I managed to get these, for what they're worth.... I had hoped it would be a little darker and I might've got the ISS amongst some nice sunset clouds. I did get 2 other images with the ISS in them but the track was so faint there really wasn't any point in posting them without prizes to give to people who could pick the tracks...
Taken with the Oly E-510, 400ASA, 4 sec, f/22, manual focus, NR off, IS off, wireless remote, tripod. Of course, the ISS went through the sucker hole just at the end of one image.
Images have been cropped, levels adjusted and saved for the web in PS CS3.
Wow! The last three nights have been absolutely exciting for the family, waiting for the ISS to appear and right on time as predicted.
Last night I entered the elements into my scope in an attempt to track it for the first time, but have to say it wasn't an easy task.
I was out early - set up and aligned, I selected the ISS from the menu and sure enough the rise time listed matched heavens above, the scope slewed to the North West, aiming directly at the neighbours evaporative cooler but I slewed just above it and waited...... The kids were first to spot it and I was poised at the finder scope with my finger on the start button to begin the tracking and sure enough its path passed dead in the centre of the cross hair, boy was I impressed with myself until I pressed the start key that is.... the scope didn't follow the same path so I was correcting with the control pad but couldn't seem to keep it in the FOV - It would have been easier I think if I used a 26mm instead of the 15mm eyepiece. I have to say it was hard work but I had fun Can't wait to try again!
Wow! The last three nights have been absolutely exciting for the family, waiting for the ISS to appear and right on time as predicted.
Last night I entered the elements into my scope in an attempt to track it for the first time, but have to say it wasn't an easy task.
I was out early - set up and aligned, I selected the ISS from the menu and sure enough the rise time listed matched heavens above, the scope slewed to the North West, aiming directly at the neighbours evaporative cooler but I slewed just above it and waited...... The kids were first to spot it and I was poised at the finder scope with my finger on the start button to begin the tracking and sure enough its path passed dead in the centre of the cross hair, boy was I impressed with myself until I pressed the start key that is.... the scope didn't follow the same path so I was correcting with the control pad but couldn't seem to keep it in the FOV - It would have been easier I think if I used a 26mm instead of the 15mm eyepiece. I have to say it was hard work but I had fun Can't wait to try again!
Cool! Keep at it. I read that at 50x magnification you can see detail on the ISS, so I'd suggest the widest EP you have that'll achieve that to start with.
It would've been a tough one anyway, being just after 8pm still in the twilight.
. I had hoped it would be a little darker and I might've got the ISS amongst some nice sunset clouds
. I did get 2 other images with the ISS in them but the track was so faint there really wasn't any point in posting them without prizes to give to people who could pick the tracks...
but I slewed just above it and waited...... The kids were first to spot it and I was poised at the finder scope with my finger on the start button to begin the tracking and sure enough its path passed dead in the centre of the cross hair, boy was I impressed with myself 
