Last night, against my better judgement, I dragged out the 10" dob and prepared myself for imaging the fly-by of the International Space Station. The craft was scheduled for a 9:53 pass, and I began setting up at about 9:30. That was my first mistake. Not allowing myself enough time to get everything ready before that small bright light appeared in the NW.
My first set back was a dirty mirror in the dob. It has been a while since I've used it, and I didn't realize how dirty the mirror had gotten. Visual observations through the eyepiece weren't hampered by the spots that plagued the glass, but with a camera inserted, and magnified with a 2x barlow; the spots were readily visible. I put the 10" back in the trailer, and brought out the 8. This one had spots on the mirror too, but not quite as bad as the ones on the 10. I decided to make the imaging attempt with the 8", a Toucam 840k web cam, and a 2x barlow. I knew the image would be smaller than I wanted, but pushing the magnification any higher would only amplify the dirty mirror spots.
I turned the scope toward the moon, and achieved focus. Then do double check the camera settings, I swung over to Saturn. With Saturn in the finder, I still had a black screen on the laptop. Saturn should have been there, out of focus, but there none the less. My first thought was that the finder wasn't aligned with the telescope. I pointed the scope at a street light in my neighbors yard and checked the alignment of the finder, it was dead on. The shutter setting on the camera was wrong!
A quick check of my watch told me that the Space Station should be clearing the horizon, and would be visible within a minute. I quickly pulled up the camera setting on the laptop, and adjusted the shutter speed of the web cam. When I looked toward the NW, the Space Station was just clearing the tree tops. I trained the scope on the point of light, got the cross hairs of the finder just ahead of the craft, and let the ISS fly through the FOV. Nothing appeared on the computer screen. I tired again, but still there was nothing that zipped across the screen. I pulled the settings up on the camera again, and found that I had moved the slider in the wrong direction! I quickly readjusted, and then look skyward. The ISS was quickly approaching the tree line to the south, and I knew right then I had probably missed the opportunity.
Bringing the cross hairs back onto the Space Station, I let the craft run through the FOV again. This time, I saw a smudge of light pass across the screen. That was my last attempt, as the southern tree line swallowed the craft in the next few seconds.
Reviewing the video, I had only caught the ISS on one pass through the FOV, and even then, it only appeared as a streak. There was no detail at all in the image, so I trashed it.
Imaging the ISS isn't as easy as it seems, and having everything ready in advance is essential to capturing quality images of the space station. I missed a great opportunity last night, and it will more than likely be a while before I get that chance again. Wednesday night offers an even better chance for someone to capture an image, but it won't be me. Clouds are moving in tonight, and are forecast to be with us for the next 8 to 10 days (if not longer).
After the missed imaging opportunity. I grabbed a few eyepieces and did some visual observing. The moon, and Saturn were my first stops, and I savored the view of each through a 32mm plossl. I attempted M52, M81, M82, and M104. But a combination of moonlight, and haze from the sea breeze moving in washed out the galaxies. Hot, tired, and sweaty under the balmy skies, I decided to pack it in. Even though I didn't get to image the Space Station, and my visual targets were few, I enjoyed just being out beneath the night sky; almost as much as the cold shower I took afterwards. 