Mark - ISS

[JohnP]

Mark - If you get anything like this of ISS I will be mega impressed.... pretty amazing I would say.

John

http://spaceweather.com/swpod2008/18may08/ewers_uncompressed.AVI?PHPSESSID=8vlc3659e6sjal54g9aie70ro1

[MarkS]

Stunning!!

To create a video like that he must be tracking the ISS almost perfectly.  I wonder how he's doing it:
What sort of mount?
What hardware/software combination?
What sort of camera (he may not be using a video)?

Actually I do have an idea up my sleeve to create a video from lots of still frames.  A DSLR is great for getting ISS images because the sensor is very large - it allows for a large margin of targetting error.  So my next idea is to leave the DSLR in continuous auto-fire mode and leave both hands free for swinging the scope.

[Rick]

Once upon a time there was a project called sattrack which produced a software package to drive antenae to follow satellites for radio amateurs. It was accurate enough at predicting and tracking that it fell foul of post-911 security...

[JohnP]

Mark - I know that Mac was playing with some ISS/ Satellite tracking s/w at one of the DSC's on his LX - maybe he can post a link...?

I love the way the ISS rotaes & then gets smaller as it transits the sky. The resolution is almost good enough that if a astronaut had been outside on a service mission you could have probably made him out.....!

John

[Mac]

Aye that i was, and i still have the software, all you need to do is to update the tle data wich is downloadable from loads of places,

I'll zip it all down some time tomorrow and post a link to the file.

[MarkS]

Cheers Mac - I've picked it up.

[MarkS]

Here's my very fuzzy attempt tonight (28 May at 10:40pm) - again this was moving the scope by hand.  Nikon D70 on the C11 at F10 with a rubber band to hold the shutter button down to get continuous firing.  But I lost the ISS once it was directly overhead because I couldn't easily see though the finderscope.  Only 30 frames of 160 contained the ISS - these I registered using IRIS. 



For some reason I couldn't upload this to my previews and works in progress area of the gallery.

[Rick]

For some reason I couldn't upload this to my previews and works in progress area of the gallery.

Any specific error messages?

[MarkS]

It appears to upload successfully - I received the message:
   Successful Uploads
   1 uploads were successful.

But when I clicked 'Continue' to add the files to albums, a broken picture symbol appeared alongside the message:
   Please place the files in albums at this time. You may also enter relevant information about each file now.

So I selected the Album: Mark Shelley's Previews and hit continue.  It replied
   The previous file could not be placed.
   You have successfully placed all the files.

When I go to My Gallery, the file is not there

[Rick]

Hmmm... Only thing in the error log is "/usr/bin/convert no such file or directory". I've seen that before somewhere. I'll burrow.

Nope. That's not the problem. It seems, for some reason, to be having trouble making a thumbnail. I suspect PowWeb have an old version of ImageMagick installed, or somesuch...

I'll see what I can sort...

[Fay]

Looks good Mark. I now know how difficult it is to do. There are a couple of really clear frames there. Will you be able to get a good still from those?

[Rick]

Ok. I think I sorted something. Problem seems to be that the version of ImageMagick that PowWeb let us use is a bit old, and it had trouble creating the thumbnail. Well, it's possible the problem was elsewhere, but that seems most likely. I had no trouble uploading it to my local test version of the gallery, and it created a thumbnail just fine. Getting the locally-created thumbnail into the live gallery on PowWeb took a little more effort, but it's now done. Check your previews album and let me know...

[MarkS]

Thanks Rick.

[MarkS]

Will you be able to get a good still from those?

I've added the best 2 frames together and scaled by 150%.  I'm reasonably pleased with the result but the solar panels don't show up very well because of the angle of the sun.

[Fay]

Not bad at all Mark. At least you know all the settings etc now. I will be trying out settings, positions etc in the garden this weekend as soon as cloud permits. 

[Mac]

did you manage to get the software to controll your mount?

[JohnP]

Fay - Looks like tomorrow night will be the last decent pass for about 6 weeks....

John

[Fay]

Oh, 6 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I sussed it out for tonight, but no good. I think there may be a chance of getting out there tomorrow. Will you try as well?

[Ian]

see if you can image the poo currently trailing behind...

[Fay]

Rushed into the garden. Managed to find a star 5 mins before ISS due & focused. Realised I needed the FR & one extension tube.

Flew to the other end of the garden, as would not have been able to see ISS in that position. Reset computer but could not find 1/1000 of sec so had to leave it on 1/2000, which seemed ok. ISS crept up & surprised me. Got it on chip, but I was moving so much it was like a firefly dancing about all over the place. Trouble was then, I know it would never have aligned, but Registax would not open it, must be because it was 356 MB!!

So, how to keep a lot more still & keep the file size low.

Any ideas?

[MarkS]

Is it an AVI file?  If so, download VirtualDub - it's designed for video editing but allows you to examine an AVI file frame by frame.  The good frames can be copied to the clipboard (one at a time using the "Video" menu - in my ancient version of VirtualDub) and then pasted into your favourite image editor (PaintShopPro? Photoshop?).  If you save those individual frames, you can open a whole load of them in Registax ...

[MarkS]

did you manage to get the software to controll your mount?

Yes - thanks Mac.  But I haven't tried it out yet ...

[Fay]

Mark, thanks for the info on VirtualDub. I have downloaded it & will try it out later. Don't hold a lot of hope though. There is a tutorial involving the program in Practical Astronomer this month.

[MarkS]

Cloud cover looks prohibitive tonight - so we'll have to wait 'til July for the next ISS attempts ...

[Fay]

That program is really promising, Mark. My AVI was too much all over the place. I sat for quite a while deleting the frames where ISS was too far off centre & opening in Registax, which did try to stack them but kept stopping as frames were still not suitable enough. Never mind, it's all practise. It was not in focus anyway! I think a lot of the problem was that I did not have time to compose myself & rest the scope on my shoulder. I was holding it in mid air!

[Mike]

....... rest the scope on my shoulder. I was holding it in mid air!

Isn't it supposed to be on a tripod?

[Fay]

I find it easier to hold the WO rather than manipulate it on the tripod. Although I will have another go with it.

[Rick]

...and as Mark's photographing them...

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/CitiesAtNight/

[MarkS]

Lovely pics - I wish it really was me taking them!

I've never seen a barn door tracker quite that complex.

[Rick]

Yeah. Gives it a whole new perspective.