I was busy last night and didn't have a chance to capture the conjunction, but I noticed that the ISS was going to pass between Venus/Pleiades and Aldebaran just before 7pm this evening. Not a very bright ISS pass (mag -0.7), but it seemed like a good opportunity to capture it. Here's the results, taken from my local park with my 50D and 35mm f/2 lens. The first image is before the ISS pass, the second is with the ISS, and the last is an image taken on Monday evening (2nd April) using my 70-200 telephoto.
Lovely work Stephen, the wide shots look very nice. The clouds at your location look patchier; those in our suburb were longer strings, in layers. As expected, they dispersed as Venus dropped behind the tree line!
Nice work the Stephen,they look very good,The third is neatly framed and captures the event very well.
look like another busy afternoon this afternoon-chinese space station passing close to Venus at -2.7 6.40 pm,might try and use my two slr's at different focal lengths.
Thanks Tom, Liz, David, Dennis, Chris and Mike! Much appreciated.
And thanks for the heads-up about Tiangong 1 and Venus tonight Chris, I hadn't looked that far ahead to see the predictions. But note that it's mag +2.7, not -2.7, so you'll need a fast lens. I might try the Tamron 90mm f/2.8...
Thanks Tom, Liz, David, Dennis, Chris and Mike! Much appreciated.
And thanks for the heads-up about Tiangong 1 and Venus tonight Chris, I hadn't looked that far ahead to see the predictions. But note that it's mag +2.7, not -2.7, so you'll need a fast lens. I might try the Tamron 90mm f/2.8...
Cheers,
Stephen
do'oh sorry about the mag.still worth a shot,I checked a 6.40 pm image from area last night-with that tree etc from a previous submission-looks like it could frame up well.I'll use the 70-200 L F 2.8 at 70-f2.8.I think it might be a 8 sec exp.Should I use the camera on the tracking EQ mount or just have camera on tripod Stephen?
do'oh sorry about the mag.still worth a shot,I checked a 6.40 pm image from area last night-with that tree etc from a previous submission-looks like it could frame up well.I'll use the 70-200 L F 2.8 at 70-f2.8.I think it might be a 8 sec exp.Should I use the camera on the tracking EQ mount or just have camera on tripod Stephen?
Clouded out here Chris - how did you get on? (Sorry, didn't see your latest question until just now!)
No clouds here Stephen and Dennis,I had the camera on the tripod and played around with the settings and took some test images before the pass over.
But did not capture the Tiangong-1,at +2.7 mag must not have been bright enough in the Twilight.Still was a nice view,Jupiter is just about to set.
Been a good conjunction,many lovely images by many IIS members,from along the Eastern coast of Australia.Its been a learning curve on using gear and equipment all over again.Must go onto "Heavens above" more often too.
Was there a ISS pass tonight-saw a bright object in N.E at 6.02 pm.
Hope you and family can come up for a DSO night /camp in the future Stephen.
Nice work Chris - I'm surprised that Tiangong-1 didn't leave a trail although I guess in strong twilight it might have been expecting too much?
Cheers
Dennis
Not sure either Dennis,may be I did something wrong-the time I thought it was going through was 6.40 pm,I checked all frames either side of this mark but could not see anything.May be the wider frame was not a good thing to do.May be the twilight was too strong.Stephen may be able to advise,he has had some great results in this arena-and has some good experience gained over a long time.Anyhow the view was good to see.
Not sure either Dennis,may be I did something wrong-the time I thought it was going through was 6.40 pm,I checked all frames either side of this mark but could not see anything.May be the wider frame was not a good thing to do.May be the twilight was too strong.Stephen may be able to advise,he has had some great results in this arena-and has some good experience gained over a long time.Anyhow the view was good to see.
Hi Chris
CalSky gave 18h 41mm 55s and SNP was a few seconds different from my location in Brisbane. In the SNP simulation, Tiangong-1 passed through the 300mm F4 field of view in approx 10 secs, at 18h 40m 51s.
No clouds here Stephen and Dennis,I had the camera on the tripod and played around with the settings and took some test images before the pass over.
But did not capture the Tiangong-1,at +2.7 mag must not have been bright enough in the Twilight.Still was a nice view,Jupiter is just about to set.
Nice image Chris, even without Tiangong 1. Was this an 8 sec exposure as you had planned? I found that with the ISS/TG-1 image last weekend I had to increase the ISO (to 800) and reduce the exposure time (to 4 secs) in order to capture TG-1 against the background sky brightness. Given the fact that last night's pass was well before astronomical twighlight ended, it may have required much shorter exposures at 1600 ISO to capture the station above the twilight.
