Guide for Imaging the ISS with details. Imaging the ISS for capturing its details is very difficult & tricky. But you can do it with simple Dobsonian or Alt-Az mounted Telescope. This is how you can try for better results. 1] Mount camera at Prime focus of Telescope (No eyepiece) 2] Sharp focus the scope on some bright star like Sirius while keeping ISO lower about 200-400 & Shutter speed higher about 1/320 Sec This ensure the proper exposure as ISS is too bright can go up to Mag -2 3] Once you done sharp focusing for camera align the finder scope with pinpoint accuracy to the field of view in camera. This is very essential step to ensure you get enough frames containing ISS while capturing video. 4] Above processes makes you ready for ISS capturing 5] Now the tricky part, as the ISS approaches start recording the video & leave it on, now view through Finder scope only & anticipate the next position of ISS as it moves through finder scopes field of view 6] Make sure you park your scope right where the ISS is incoming & let the ISS zip pass the cross hair point as shown in Inset image 7] Once the ISS passes over cross hair you got it on the frame automatically provided you done perfect alignment of finder scope with cameras field of view as mentioned above. 8] Quickly move the telescope manually to the next anticipated position so the incoming ISS again passes over the cross hair 9] Repeat the processes 5-8 until you can see the ISS 10] Thats it you got ample frames in your video that contains ISS in it. Though most of the frames will be blank but it wont matter as you got the catch. 11] Make compilation of all frames containing ISS in it by processing the video using Planetary imaging Pre-Processor (PIPP) This is the link https://sites.google/site/astropipp/ 12] Congratulations...You got a descent view of ISS from your setup. (Y) :) Things you will learn from final video of ISS. 1] It is extremely bright & travels really fast (specially through field of view) Actual speed of ISS with respect to the ground is about 27500 km/h 2] It keeps changing its orientation as it moves across the sky 3] Its brightness gradually increases after rising over the horizon & reaches to maximum brightness at highest altitude when fully lit by sunlight, later fades out as it moves away from local sky There are many sites which gives you ISS passing schedule but I found this more reliable with proper map & future sightings data so you can plan it well ahead. This map is for Mumbai, India. Search for your city using location box. iss.astroviewer.net/observation.php?lon=72.87765590000004&lat=19.0759837&name=Mumbai Those who dont have Telescope but have good Zoom lens for Camera can also try above processes even with normal Tripod & you will also be able to capture some nice views of ISS. Hope above guide helps you to get good images of ISS in future. Good Luck (Y)
Posted on: Sat, 08 Nov 2014 07:16:05 +0000
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