I didn’t think so myself, but it is possible to photograph the International Space Station if you are patient and willing enough. I saw a photo that someone had taken of the ISS on www.spaceweather.com recently and thought I must give it a go. The short article said to use 1/500 of a second exposure and ISO 1000. On 6th of September the ISS would make a very high and bright pass at -2.5 magnitude and be visible for 4 minutes (go to www.heavens-above.com for details of satellite passes in your area). “Piece of cake” I thought but the doing was much more difficult than the thought. I used a 900mm refractor coupled to my digital SLR Pentax with a 25mm eyepiece in between to increase the magnification. Focal length of telescope/eyepiece/camera arrangement ended up being about 1800mm – looking through the eyepiece I found Jupiter and used it to focus the system. The planet looked very small and the moons were only points of light so magnification was low. Took a few test shots and viewed a magnified image on the camera display and you could quite clearly see the bands of the planet’s atmosphere. I thought this would be a good compromise as I knew getting the ISS within the view finder would be a great challenge.
And so it was – at the predetermined time up out of the western horizon it came. I thought I could use the finder scope but the ISS was moving too quickly to get to the camera view finder. I ended up just using the camera viewfinder alone and hoping I could keep up with the ISS. As the space station flew almost directly overhead it was all but impossible to get to the camera view finder. Now the ISS was heading towards the eastern horizon at a great pace and I was struggling to get any sort of view in the view finder – most of the time just brief flashes as I wrestled with the telescope alignment. My eastern horizon obstruction (house) was looming and the ISS would soon be lost for that night. I just had to get it in my sights somehow. And somehow I did and managed about 6 photos in quick succession and then it was gone. I was exhausted although I quickly reviewed my handiwork and was surprised I could actually make out the shape of the ISS in the camera display. Downloaded these onto computer and the rest is history as you can see by my images. Three images are shown here, two are mine and one from the NASA Website so you can compare the detail. In my images you can easily see the shape of the two large solar panels and the main body of the station.
THE EQUIPMENT USED TO PHOTOGRAPH THE
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
ORBITING AT 27000 KILOMETRES PER HOUR
AT A HEIGHT OF 340 KILOMETRES
ABOVE THE EARTH
