Observation by Mike Greenhill-Hooper: ISS transiting the sun
Uploaded by
Mike Greenhill-Hooper
Observer
Mike Greenhill-Hooper
Observed
2021 Aug 09 - 10:56
Uploaded
2021 Aug 11 - 14:37
Objects
The Sun
Equipment
- 80mm refractor with Baader ASBF 70 AstroSolar Filter on NEQ6 mount
- ZWO ASI224MC camera with ND and IR/uv cut filter
Exposure
SharpCap 0.133ms, gain 291, ~150fps
Location
Urdens, Le Gers, SW France
Target name
ISS / sun
Title
ISS transiting the sun
About this image
I have been hoping to capture ISS solar transit for a while then along came this opportunity - predicted centre line distance just 10km from home, 4 star opportunity according to "transit-finder.com". I drove to the location the day before and spied a possible site to set up my scope. On the day I arrived 1h30m before the event, driving off the main road down a dirt track surrounded by farmland and a small lake, used for farmland irrigation. I was lucky enough to encounter the farmer that owned the land and once I explained that I had not come to fish in his lake, he agreed (although rather bemused!) that I could park up and set up my scope. I recorded the event using the open hatch of the car as support for my computer and as a shade from the midday sun. A few details of the pass: Sun's altitude: 57.4 degrees, ISS angular size: 55.54" (497.5km distance), transit time ~0.6 seconds (7.39km/s). Processed the video using PIPP to extract the individual 100 frames showing the transit, stacked every 4th frame to make a composite, then blended this with a sharpened image of the sun's disk taken just before the transit (best 10% of 5000 frames stacked using AutoStakkert and RegiStax 6). The next file is a GIF created by PIPP of the event (if it displays properly!).
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