ISS with Discovery STS-119 and new S6 solar panel

iceman (Mike) · #1 27-03-2009, 06:57 AM

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.

leinad (Dan) · #2 27-03-2009, 07:29 AM

Wow!!! Real nice Mike!

vindictive666 (John) · #3 27-03-2009, 07:58 AM

beeyewtiful mike

regards john

sheeny (Al) · #4 27-03-2009, 08:08 AM

Superb, Mike! As always!

Al.

h0ughy (David) · #5 27-03-2009, 09:00 AM

awesome result Mike WOW

Paul Haese · #6 27-03-2009, 09:32 AM

Nice image, good detail too.

cookie8 (Vincent) · #7 27-03-2009, 10:13 AM

Incredible Mike.You are the first guyto capture the new solar panel from the ground. Awesome!!!

RB (Andrew) · #8 27-03-2009, 10:41 AM

Excellent result mate !

vespine · #9 27-03-2009, 10:54 AM

That's phenomenal! Just the other day someone asked me if I'd seen a satellite through my scope and I scoffed, nah! They're way too fast to see in a dob scope, and here you are imaging one! I might have to go eat my hat, just amazing.

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #10 27-03-2009, 11:04 AM

Awesome Mike.

Spanrz (Brett) · #11 27-03-2009, 01:32 PM

Oh my, just had xmas all over again. 2 great threads in my day off (photo's of shuttle/iss).
Thanks Mike and Vincent. Made my weekend.

And whoever said NASA and the Miltary were always spying on us!
I think the shoe is on the other foot now....

About time....
"In space, no one can hear you scream"

In 2009, You can't hide anymore either, on the ground or in space.

............Hahaha

StephenM (Stephen) · #12 27-03-2009, 04:57 PM

Excellent captures, Mike!

Cheers,
Stephen

Quark (Trevor) · #13 27-03-2009, 05:09 PM

Mike, what a stunning effort this is.

To image this with a hand guided Dob is a phenomenal effort on it's own, to image it and get such a high res result is a truly outstanding achievement.

Wont be long and you will be able to let NASA know which bolts need tightening and which solar panels need replacing.

Extremely well done
Regards
Trevor

:thumbsup :

Garyh · #14 28-03-2009, 09:39 AM

Wow, great capture Mike!
cheers Gary

iceman (Mike) · #15 28-03-2009, 01:28 PM

Thanks guys, really appreciate your kind words. I was a little disappointed not to have captured the shuttle clearer.. especially the second one. I wish I was able to capture more frames but didn't realise how much the finderscope had fogged up while waiting. It was a very dewey morning!

There's always next time.

Spanrz (Brett) · #16 28-03-2009, 04:08 PM

Mike, you've only got till about 3am tomorrow morning.

spacezebra (Petra) · #17 28-03-2009, 05:22 PM

Excellent Mike Capture bien cuite et grande.

Petra d.

Ric · #18 29-03-2009, 10:16 AM

Great stuff Mike, you've captured some fantastic details.

Top stuff

Spanrz (Brett) · #19 29-03-2009, 02:27 PM

Well got up early to see anything on the re-entry. But was disappointed.
I didn't see anything but a some small meteors falling.
At one point a bright small flash happened around the track of the shuttle on re-entry.
The scene was set, I was awake, watching NASATV, absolute clear skies and had the camera at the ready.
They missed the first deorbit due to weather contraints.
They got the 2nd deorbit, 12 minutes later, they were due to come overhead.

Found the best spot that I could, very hard due to light pollution, but took some happy snaps of nothing.
I did get a small meteor around Eta Carinae, but that was about it.

So no sparks, no nothing from the Shuttle perspective. Disappointed yes, but I had the experience of trying the camera out.

I had a lot of confusion with the ground tracks as the NASA info didn't marry up with other info I had.
But all in all, I was in the right spot at the right time, just didn't see anything this time.
But the most evident history, is usually the last round trip that they do the deorbit burn on, goes over Melbourne or Tassie, so we get the chance to view the first effects of the atmosphere.

Here's some of my pics. I've tried to look them over a lot, but can't see any smudges. Darn it.
Camera is pointed approx due South / South West and captures from horizon to about 20-30degrees.
Shuttle wasn't supposed to get over 14 degrees in altitude.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3635/...8eba31f1_b.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3633/...3faf14b2_b.jpg

Taken with a Fujifilm S1000FD 10MP. On Aperture priority, Fully open aperture (think about 2.4), high light gain, ISO 800 and 1600 and about a 6-8 exposure. Any lower than ISO800 made it too dark and 3200 was just too exposed and grainy
The light pollution did make a warm abience to it all.
Thanks to Vincent who also tried to view.

I might have to make an animation to look for any smudges or changes.

Bassnut (Fred) · #20 29-03-2009, 06:14 PM

Very impressive Mike, would be interesting with more subs, but as it is, an awesome effort.