ISS/STS-133

[george7378]

I finally got a picture of the coupling between the ISS and STS-133. It was the brightest thing I have ever seen in the sky, and this is my best photo (notice the pass behind the clouds!). Thanks for looking.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/georgekristiansen/5482528217/

 

[Turbinator]

What equipment did you use?

 

[Dambuster]

Very cool! I think we were probably watching at the same time!

Also, I just looked at the next photo in your photostream - were you using some sort of computerised tracker to track the ISS?

:ninja: Edit: semi-ninja'd by Turbinator

 

[george7378]

For this picture, I just used my compact camera and a tripod - it's a Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZX1, and it lets you do exposures up to 60 seconds - I just waited for them to pass over, and opened the shutter for them to draw a trail.

As for the other one, I used a bracket to hold my camera up to the eyepiece of the telescope, and then took a video while trying to hand guide the scope. The pictures are basically the best frames in the video put into one image. I've got some slightly less blurred ones here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/georgekristiansen/5309965085/in/set-72157625659427987/

I thought that there would be quite a lot of people watching this pass - it was perfectly placed, and the weather wasn't bad.

 

[george7378]

I got them again tonight - what a treat! The ISS and Discovery skimming between the Moon and Jupiter, with it and Discovery making a last beautiful pass in the clear skies before undocking tomorrow. I changed the levels on the Moon and the ISS trail to make them stand out a bit more, and I'm really pleased with the results:

 

[astrosammy]

Amazing, I just love Orion! I'll try again tomorrow, after undocking. It will be a low one here (36°). Today would have been perfect, but that stupid ........ had to extend the mission .

---------- Post added at 19:48 ---------- Previous post was at 00:13 ----------

Ok, it looks like it wasn't dark enough today to get good images, but it was great to see it. I first thought that I made some mistake and went out at the wrong time, but then Discovery appeared, followed by the bright station.

If you can't see them above:

EDIT: BTW, exposure time was 5 seconds.

 

[george7378]

Thanks for the pictures - absolutely amazing to have got the Shuttle and station. I saw the same pass too - the station came first, and then I saw the dot of Discovery in front of it when they climbed higher (I think Discovery was in front anyway). This is the first time I have actually seen a Space Shuttle when it is on its own - I was just so excited when I realised how good the pass was going to be. It was perfect - I am so glad to have actually seen Discovery flying solo. I tried some pictures, but the pass was too low down for me, and they were too dim (the ISS was only mag. -0.8, and the Shuttle dimmer) to really see much. You can see the station trail, but not the Shuttle. Once again - kudos on the captures! Those pictures will probably gain a lot of sentimental value when you look back at the end of the program.

 

[Dambuster]

Nice - the best I could get was a photo looking between two buildings on a main road where I can categorically state 'Discovery is in this image'...just don't ask me to point it out! It was quite obvious to the naked eye, though.

 

[george7378]

I looked at my pictures again, and it turns out that I did actually get them - just a combined trail. The images aren't great, but they show it. I will try and get them on tomorrow.

---------- Post added 08-03-11 at 22:20 ---------- Previous post was 07-03-11 at 22:25 ----------

Here are the pictures - they are far from great, but you can see the dim trail followed by the brighter trail of the ISS (there's also a flare from COSMO-SkyMed 4 taken on the same night):