ISS through the naked eye - Wow!

[Der Anfang]

I just saw it for the first time. Then again for a second time just last night. Well, rather I should say I've seen the ISS for the first and second time and actually know what I am looking at. Wow, just wow! I actualy had my telescope out the first time I saw it (and was looking for it). I almost got it into focus but the thing was so darn fast! I lost it. Hand guiding a telescope while chasing a fast moving object is... well, hard. I plan on tryign to catch the ISSin my scope the next time the conditions are perfect.

Has anybody else managed to see the ISS through the telescope?

[Camacha]

Not through the scope, but I make it a point to go see it every few days. It always brings a smile to my face. As far as naked ground monkeys go, we are a wonderful bunch.

Though I must admit I have contributed nothing to the achievement.

[windows_x_seven]

I've seen the ISS by naked eye once.

Quite a nice experience to see it whizzing by the sky, knowing that there's people in that flying dot.

[Camacha]

I've seen the ISS by naked eye once.

Quite a nice experience to see it whizzing by the sky, knowing that there's people in that flying dot.

To me it is not only amazing that there are people in that dot, but also that the dot was made by other people, and put up there by more people. If someone living just a couple of hundred years ago would have seen this bright star pass by, it would have been an utterly religious experience. I look at my hands and find it hard to believe that enough of those together can do something like that.

Edited August 17, 2015 by Camacha

[PakledHostage]

If someone living just a couple of hundred years ago would have seen this bright star pass by, it would have been an utterly religious experience.

I had that thought while watching the video below the first few times that I watched it. I've sailed across the Atlantic in a sailboat. It took us 6 weeks, including a week long stop in the Azores. I then got on a plane and flew home in just a few hours. Now consider that the ISS goes all the way around every 90 minutes... People who'd only ever known travel by sail power would be absolutely flabbergasted.

[cantab]

I've seen it a fair few times, you really can't miss it when it passes over. I've tracked it in binoculars but they weren't very good ones. To track it manually at any decent magnification is pretty much impossible, it's a tall order even for automatic mounts.

[windows_x_seven]

If someone living just a couple of hundred years ago would have seen this bright star pass by, it would have been an utterly religious experience.

And that someone then decides to register that event by drawing or writing something.

Some centuries later, History Channel finds that drawing/writing.

Future Humans = Ancient Aliens. Woo.

[Javster]

I've seen the ISS a bunch of times, but for the first time a few days ago I saw another satellite, same speed as ISS, but a lot less bright

[cantab]

I've found summer great for seeing satellites, it must be because of the day/night cycle. If I'm out looking at the sky chances are I'll see a bunch.

[Dartguy]

I just saw it for the first time. Then again for a second time just last night. Well, rather I should say I've seen the ISS for the first and second time and actually know what I am looking at. Wow, just wow! I actualy had my telescope out the first time I saw it (and was looking for it). I almost got it into focus but the thing was so darn fast! I lost it. Hand guiding a telescope while chasing a fast moving object is... well, hard. I plan on tryign to catch the ISSin my scope the next time the conditions are perfect.

Has anybody else managed to see the ISS through the telescope?

I have watched it several times in 20 x 80 binoculars, not really much more to see. It is just too fast. You would need to program a mount to track it to get good results.

Check out Thierry LeGault's site for pure awesomeness.

http://www.astrophoto.fr/

[T-Bouw]

Thanks for the warning people.

I've wanted to look at the ISS through my scope for a while, but haven't got around to it yet.

Now I know it's way too fast to track with a manual scope.

Saves me the trouble.

I might try with the binoculars sometime though.

[Der Anfang]

Thanks for the warning people.

I've wanted to look at the ISS through my scope for a while, but haven't got around to it yet.

Now I know it's way too fast to track with a manual scope.

Saves me the trouble.

I might try with the binoculars sometime though.

It actially is possible to track with a manual scope. There are a few people who have done it (look it up in youtube). I managed to chase the ISS for a few seconds in my scope, but I lost it when I tried to focus in on it. But it is possible to hand guide your scope. You should try it out. c:

[StrandedonEarth]

I've seen it many times thanx to Nasa's "Spot the Station" emails. Spectacularly brilliant and pretty quick. Once it was even getting chased by a Dragon, and another time chased by Progress.

[Camacha]

I've seen it many times thanx to Nasa's "Spot the Station" emails. Spectacularly brilliant and pretty quick. Once it was even getting chased by a Dragon, and another time chased by Progress.

There are some pretty neat phone apps for it too, like the ISS Detector. That is highly portable and makes spotting about as easy as it gets, since it dynamically shows where to look (heading and elevation).

[Astronut]

I took this shot through my telescope back in 2009 by manually tracking it.

- - - Updated - - -

The hardest part is getting the camera settings right..

[livefree75]

I saw it as it flew over at 20:46 EDT tonight. At first I thought it might be a high-flying airplane, because I had never seen the ISS fly over before. I checked heavens-above.com, and sure enough, it was the space station. It amazes me to think that that small dot racing across the sky is in fact traveling at 17,500 mph (~28000 kph) carrying human beings.

[Rithsom]

I took this shot through my telescope back in 2009 by manually tracking it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/PaulRix/Astronomy/ISS-12May2009.jpg~original

- - - Updated - - -

The hardest part is getting the camera settings right..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/PaulRix/Astronomy/ISS2005-2009.jpg~original

I'm amazed that it is possible to see the ISS in that much detail, considering it's going across the sky extremely fast and is quite far away. Do have a good idea of how close it was when you took those pictures?

Edited August 20, 2015 by Rthsom