Hey All,
Here is the first start of my new project that I am doing for the
ISS. I bought a
Dob Zhumell Z8 a couple of weeks ago and an Apertura 10x50
RACI with illuminated reticle finder that can have any eyepiece in. I thought that that was all I would need to spot and track it. But I have a very large Pine tree that blocks most of the West side and part of the SouthWest and it hinders my view from where it comes from. Plus when trying to get the
ISS in the early morning, it pops out of nowhere due to the Earth and Sun Location (Opposite to when you try to image or see it in the Evening when it all of sudden goes dark.)
Well, I was able to track it with great accuracy with the new
RACI, but only after I found it. I was a tad too late to catch it at its highest point of 63 Degrees. So I decided to buy an extra
Telrad base for the
Dob, I figure that would be good to get it in range as soon as I can see it pop out behind the pine tree, then switch to the
RACI. (I Haven't tried it out yet), But Next week I have 3 opportunities to and this time in the evening Thank the Lord. One is at 80 degrees, the other 60 Degrees and the next day 52 degrees as the paths hows currently This one was at 5:45am
Anyway here is the
ISS at about 45-50 Degrees I think. The highest it hit was 63 that night, but I couldn't find it in my Viewfinder right away since I have a big pine tree facing my west side. But I figured.
Zhumell Z* 8" Push
Dob
ZWO 290mm
Antares 1.5x barlow
I took 50 images of it and stacked it in Autostakert then to Photoshop
Exposure time was set to 0.28ms and the gain was at 274. (The predicted magnitude was a 3.9 that night) i focused on the moon beforehand and it was in its last phase.
Thx for Looking