This has sure been a good STS mission for you, John.  Congratulations on the photos.  I went out again last night, but the overcast was too heavy to see anything.  The plume would have been a great catch.

Kevin Bozard:

I didn't get to see it last night John, we had thunderstorms in the area and clouds had taken over our southern sky. What a sight that must have been. By the way, I saw your image at Spaceweather, nicely done.

 

Starwolf:

I would really really really  love to get an image capture of the ISS in front of the sun or moon. Hmmm, come to think of it, I would love to get any decent image capture of it. You know the type of picture that you see on Spaceweather.com every few weeks....

 

You're not alone in that quest. I've been trying to image the ISS for a while now, with less than desirable results. Ralf Vandebergh takes some of the best ISS shots I've ever seen through a 10" telescope, but even with tips from him; I still haven't been able to capture that one shot that knocks me out of my chair. Imaging the ISS isn't an easy task, but I'll get it someday.

This is the best shot I've captured so far, but is nothing compared to Ralph's. 

WOW thats really cool!  Was that taken through your telescope?  How much magnification do you need to see any details?  I can't imagine how I could ever catch something moving that fast with my telescope!

There are only a few computerized telescope drives that can slew fast enough to track satellites but one can do the job manually with a smooth alt-azimuth mount.  I've had some success viewing the ISS using magnifications of 40x or so.

You may want to have a look at some of the ISS images posted at the sites that I mentioned earlier in this thread:

http://www.iss-tracking.de/images/stationpic.html

http://www.astrosurf.com/legault/iss_atlantis_transit.html

http://pictures.ed-morana.com/ISSTransits/

http://www.astronomycamerasblog.com/2009/01/30/iss-images-by-laurent-langelez/

Dave Mitsky

 Thanks those were some great links! 

Hey craterdavy,

 I look it up on spaceflight.nasa.gov and go outside to watch it fly over several times per month.  My six year old son loves being the first to spot it as it comes into view.  It becomes more special because we watch NASA TV and learn about the astronauts that are in it at any given time so we know their names and faces as it goes overhead.

Oh, I forgot to mention we are in Southeast Michigan.