Video of ISS by 5" scope! :shock:

His website is www.astroewers.de/index/raumstatueb/iss-...2/iss-atve080512.htm
333 frames capture in 2 minutes with a 5inch refractor incredible :shock:
Darragh

My God! How on earth was he able to get an image like that?

Tracking, focussing, getting the perfect positioning to catch it in the first place at such a high magnification. Must have done hundreds of practice runs to get this result.

He has some pretty amazing images of the ISS on his site. Makes it look like the station is nothing more then a plane overhead.

A point about the dimentions of the ISS.
It is 365 feet across and 290 feet long.
Its solar panels take up almost an acre of space.

It is a MUCH larger object that either Liberty Hall in Dublin (190 feet tall) or County Hall in Cork (219 ft tall).

At an altitude of 250 miles a small telescope at 100x will show the ISS as though it were only 2.5 miles away.

(Like looking at the County Hall in Cork from the centre of Cork City.)

To minimise atmospheric turbulence the best telescope to image it might well be a 3 inch refractor!
(Looks through less cross section of air in the bottom few km of the atmosphere, where the air shimmers.)

Keeping it in the viewfinder is the real problem.

That's n interesting analogy Peter, and sums it up quite well, but where did you get your info about the preferred use of a 3 inch refractor?

I got that from Sky & Telescope magazine Seanie.
Quote:
“Generally a small telescope sees a relatively sharp star dancing around, while a large one sees a relatively steady but fuzzy star”.

I know its usually dangerous (and foolish) to say that a small aperture can be better than a large one.
It is a LOT more complicated than that.

Anyway, the full article is here:

www.skyandtelescope.com/howto/diy/3304176.html?page=4&c=y