Ground based photos of the International Space Station
Now that I've started getting good results, I'm starting a new page separate from my early attempts.
Equipment
Celestron CPC 1100 f10 telescope
Gateway 1.3 Ghz computer for tracking
1.6 Ghz dual core computer for imaging
Sat Tracker software
Wireless joystick
Philips SPC 900NC web cam
April 22, 2009
My best results yet! I even had a chance to focus some and change the exposure during the pass. I shot this one at 1/500 second exposure, 15 fps. There was a lot of vibration in the movement of the telescope which caused blurring. I got over 100 frames with the entire ISS that weren't blurred. I centered the images by hand, the program degraded the images too much. The range at closest approach was 485 km, or about 303 miles. Photos are stacked results from several frames.
Photo processed by Freddy Willems - stacked from about 100 frames and sharpened.
This video shows every frame that has any part of the ISS in it. As you can see, I was tracking pretty well and lost it. It took me quite a while to get it acquired again. The actual video is 3:31 long.
The frames from closest approach with the ISS centered.
The video includes 103 of the best frames, running at 5 fps.
July 6, 2009
My tracking was a lot better this time. But of course, something had to go wrong. This time it was the exposure - and the focus a little bit. I adjusted the focus a bit early in the pass. It never occurred to me to adjust the exposure as it passed over.
Here's a video of it. This is all of the frames that had the entire ISS in them, when the ISS was close enough to show some detail. You can't see a lot of detail, but you can watch it's appearance change as it passed by.
September 3, 2009
I had a good pass of the ISS this morning, and the Space Shuttle is docked to it. They must have done an adjustment to the orbit, because the telescope tracking was so far off that the ISS wasn't even in the field of the finder scope. I quickly loosened the clutches and tracked manually, using the red dot scope and occasionally the regular finder scope. I got an image on ten frames. All frames are represented in the photo below. The exposure was very good, the focus was off just a bit. Closest approach was 220 miles.
November 28, 2009
I almost didn't get this pass. I used Jupiter to focus my telescope. I was moving the telescope to Vega to check the alignment of my finder scope when the telescope lost it's alignment. I did a quick alignment with Jupiter and moved to Vega to improve the alignment. The ISS was already about 15 degrees elevation when I got it going again. It was only 43.8 degrees elevation at it's highest point. That makes it easier to track, but it is much further away. It was 300 miles away at closest approach.
Video of the good frames, with the ISS manually centered in each frame. The entire 640 x 480 frames are used.
The same frames processed with RegiStax 5, automatic centering of the ISS. It uses only a portion of each frame.
March 5,2010
A very nice pass and should be the last pass with my Philips webcam. It was 216 miles away at closest approach.
It didn't go well. My telescope's tracking was off too far to adjust with the joystick, so I had to loosen the clutches and track manually. My focus was off, too, as usual.
March 18, 2010
This is my first pass with my new camera. Maximum elevation was just under 48 degrees and closest approach was 285 miles. It was easier to track - the telescope kept it on the chip for most of the pass until I started adjusting it. The larger chip really helped.
Here's a video of it
And a shorter video with just the sharpest frames
April 9, 2010
It was a great pass, but didn't work out well at all. It was cloudy with holes in the clouds that allowed me to see the ISS a bit. Worse yet, my telescope tracking was too far off to see it in my finder scope, so I had to release the clutched and guide by hand using the red dot scope. Out of 1366 frames I got exactly ONE with the ISS on it. The STS is attached to it, too.
April 28, 2010
This was a tough one. The ISS was hidden by a tree for much of the pass and it also passed near the north celestial pole, which is hard with my polar aligned mount. Worse yet, it went into the Earth's shadow just 40 seconds after the closest approach. The images were a bit underexposed, making the solar panels invisible, or nearly so.
Here's the video, but it lost a lot of detail in the processing and conversion.
June 24, 2010
Tonight was a good pass, but bad for me. It was hidden by trees west of me for much of the beginning of the pass. Worse yet, it passed close enough to the North Celestial Pole, causing my telescope's mount to stop tracking and turn around.
My best five individual frames.
June 25, 2010
This was a 50 degree pass, and the closest approach was 460 miles, but it may be my best results so far!
It's hard to see, but each photo above shows a slightly different view - the ISS looks as if it's rotating, due to it's motion across the sky. You will be able to see this much more clearly in the videos below.
The best part of the pass, at actual speed
The best part of the pass, sped up
June 25, 2010
This was the second pass I had that day. I had more trouble tracking it, so I didn't have as good results. The exposure was also off a bit - the central portion was very bight and the solar panels weren't reflecting a lot of light in my direction. Also, the atmosphere conditions were bad. Enough of my excuses!
July 6, 2010
This entry is of something different. It is the United States Air Force's secret unmanned space shuttle. It is only 1/4 the Space Shuttle's size. I didn't get any detail. I clearly need a longer focal length. It wasn't visible to my naked eye when I looked up, but it wasn't very long before sunrise, so the sky had already started to brighten.
This video is sped up 4 times normal speed.
Other peoples' results
Many of these people guide their telescopes manually.
