Earthshine

Earthshine on 20.2% lit Moon this morning
Canon 600D + 200mm lens

Sun down

The plan for today was capturing ISS transiting Sun. Well weather decided other way at that particular time so a bit of a disappointment. But I was able to take a few shots of the Sun with my DSLR using a 200mm lens. Here are a few shots and a gif (again). The only time and angle I could take photos resulted electrical cables crossing the Sun but I think it adds a unique feeling to the photos :)

Sea gull and spotted Sun

Sun, pigeon and rooftop

A processed photo of Sun

And here is a gif of the sea gull crossing the disk of Sun

ISS observation

Tonight I have trieo capture ISS. It wasn't easy and still not really satisfied with result but practice makes perfect. Weather was clear but I have limited view from the place where I live. For one direction another direction has to be sacrifced, so I decided to stick with west and follow ISS till zenith. Unfortunate because that's the brightest phase, in the gif below it is the clearest - looks like a cross or a pole with equipments lol.

The frames that consists the gif aren't sharp enough, especially the very first few. I simply made it to see actually what movements are going on up there as it passes. The angle we see it is continuously changing. Honestly at first sight I couldn't figure out what part is what or what's the orientation of the spacecraft.

Here is a slightly processed photo of the best frame.

When I saw the ISS photos from the previous post it was quite surprising how different they look. For a long time I didn't even had a clue what is that exactly I see. So now after comparing the two photos it's clear that solar panels can't be seen on tonight's capture (right) - on the huge vertical pole are the panels supposedly. I guess next to those two big white tanks I can see some of the four solar panel lines crossing the big pole horizontally. 

But the middle part of the spacecraft is more detailed and if it will happen so that next time the solar panels going to be illuminated too, well I am looking forward :-)

ISS 2013.08.13 (left) and ISS 2013.10.20

I used a Skywatcher 200 Pds with a 2x Barlow lens. Canon 600D. 

Over 2200 frames were recorded in HD, 3x digital zoom. ISO 200, Exp. time 50 (if this helps).

Unfortunately only a few frames were good enought for further process.

Here is a photo of ISS from NASA website. It is easier to imagine what you see. On my photo on the left ISS has no visible solar panels - only a small glimpse at the attachments. But the two radiators (which I assumed as tanks earlier) are clear and a module as well paralell with the main pole. I marked the position of all the solar panels on both picture,