Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Jun 12, 2007 23:23:12 GMT -6
The International Space Station Imaged from Chicago Astronomer Joe's open garage
Consulting the time table for ISS appearances over the Chicago area, I noticed that this evening would have a clear northern view of the ISS. It will scoot below the north star and vanish into the Earth's shadow.
Since my garage barn doors open onto the north I would try to image it among the tangle of unsightly utility lines. I got my trusty S3 at the ready and anticipated it. Leaning on the Chevelle, I used my 10x50's to scan the alt/az position of the craft. Time table showed it to be visible at 11:53 pm - but it was ahead of schedule. I spotted it a minute or so earlier and set the camera for a 15 sec max exposure with a tungsten bias.
The ISS appeared more of a orangy color, not at all like other observations I have witnessed. At first I thought it was an aircraft, but binos showed no marker lights or other telltale signs of airborne craft. I could not discern any details with the binos, but the camera caught a ghostly trail of the ISS in the muck of Chicago's light and air pollution. You can see Polaris peeking from in between two utility lines.
The image is heavily post processed with an ISO of 800 - and with alley lights blazing on the camera, I'm surprised I caught it at all.
The next few evenings will be good ISS spotting, and will make an appearance on our Venus, Saturn and Crescent Moon conjunction event.
Astronomy is just too cool!... ;D