2018_03_28 ISS Lunar transit over Clavius
Delighted to capture this ISS dark pass tonight despite some high cloud. Solar panels and one radiator panel are prominent.
Equinox 120 ED pro 900mm focal length f/7.5 refractor with ZWO ASI178 mm CMOS camera so image scale is roughly 0.55 arcseconds per pixel. (needed star diagonal to reach focus).
The data from the ISS transit finder website gave me the correct time for the transit and calculated that the ISS would be 48.59 arcseconds in diameter against a Moon diameter of 32.6 arcminutes, ie, the Moon was 40.3 times larger.
Transit duration was 0.44 seconds. The ISS was 568.68km away from me.
My settings on the ASI178mm were:
Exposure: 0.694ms
Gain: 243
Gamma: 57
FPS: 35
I think I could have reduced my exposure time further if the cloud hadn't been there and made the Moon a little dark. Probably should have fitted a UV/IR cut filter as well as refractor optics can focus UV and IR off the focal point and blur the image a bit - I have a filter wheel on my SCT but forgot about this for a refractor.
Here is the link to the transit finder website:
2018_03_28 ISS Lunar transit over Clavius
Delighted to capture this ISS dark pass tonight despite some high cloud. Solar panels and one radiator panel are prominent.
Equinox 120 ED pro 900mm focal length f/7.5 refractor with ZWO ASI178 mm CMOS camera so image scale is roughly 0.55 arcseconds per pixel. (needed star diagonal to reach focus).
The data from the ISS transit finder website gave me the correct time for the transit and calculated that the ISS would be 48.59 arcseconds in diameter against a Moon diameter of 32.6 arcminutes, ie, the Moon was 40.3 times larger.
Transit duration was 0.44 seconds. The ISS was 568.68km away from me.
My settings on the ASI178mm were:
Exposure: 0.694ms
Gain: 243
Gamma: 57
FPS: 35
I think I could have reduced my exposure time further if the cloud hadn't been there and made the Moon a little dark. Probably should have fitted a UV/IR cut filter as well as refractor optics can focus UV and IR off the focal point and blur the image a bit - I have a filter wheel on my SCT but forgot about this for a refractor.
Here is the link to the transit finder website: