ISS shooting party on April 3rd!

[Romy Ocon]

Folks, looks like we'll have a very bright pass (mag -3.4 maximum, starts to be visible at 05:03:34 AM, Manila time) of the International Space Station on the early morning of April 3rd. For birdnuts with long lenses and who usually get up early in the morning, this is a good opportunity to catch the ISS.

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www.heavens-above.com/PassSummary.aspx?satid=25544&lat=14.583&lng=121.000&loc=Manila&alt=19&tz=UCTm8



Pass Details
Date: Saturday, 03 April, 2010
Satellite: ISS
Observer's Location: Manila ( 14.5830°N, 121.0000°E)
Local Time: Universal Coordinated Time -8 (GMT + 8:00)
Orbit: 343 x 351 km, 51.6° (Epoch 31 Mar)
Sun altitude at time of
maximum pass altitude: -11.6°


Event Time Altitude Azimuth Distance (km)
Leaves shadow 05:03:34 13° 215° (SW ) 1,128
Maximum altitude 05:06:03 84° 133° (SE ) 350
Drops below 10° altitude 05:08:57 10° 39° (NE ) 1,298
Sets 05:10:57 -0° 38° (NE ) 2,134

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Here's my best shot of this space bird to date, taken with imperfect technique and without the long reach of the 7D yet. Note that it was only at magnitude - 2.0, and the next pass will be much brighter at magnitude -3.4.

[Romy Ocon]

Hehehe.... I'm all set for tomorrow morning, hope the skies will be clear. Here are a few tips in shooting the ISS.

1. Use TCs so that the wide open combo will be around f/11.

Examples:

800 f/5.6 + 2x TC = 1600 mm f/11
600 f4 + 2x + 1.4x = 1680 mm f/11
500 f4 + 2x + 1.4x = 1400 mm f/11
400 5.6L + 2x = 800 mm, f/11

2. Stop down about a stop from wide open, and use the following recommended exposure values: f/16, 1/400 sec, ISO 800-1600.

3. Set IS to mode 2 if so equipped.

4. Pre-focus manually on a star (Live View helps) a few minutes before 5:03 am, be careful not to touch the focus ring after that. The ISS will be visible for a maximum of 6 minutes only (horizon to horizon), and prime shooting angle is only within 1-2 minutes, so make sure your time piece has the correct time. It's quite easy to miss the ISS pass if your watch is off.

To sync your watch, go to the following link:

www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=145

5. Once you see the ISS coming from the Southwest, acquire it in the viewfinder. Practice buffer management or you will run out of shots at the optimum shooting angle. You can start shooting when your lens is about 45 degrees from the horizontal and fire short bursts till the ISS is almost overhead. Note that the ISS will be lit by the rising sun in the east (not yet visible to a ground observer). The moment the spacecraft passes overhead, it will lose much of its brightness because it will become backlit.

[Romy Ocon]

Darn..... it took me almost a year of waiting for a good pass, and the ISS arrived on time. Seeing conditions, though not ideal, are quite decent too. But I missed supercritical focus!!@?&#!!!

This morning's result (7D + 2263 mm):




Last year's attempt, with more accurate focus (40D + 2000 mm):