TIME SENSITIVE: watch the ISS and Space Shuttle fly overhead tonight!

[crosvs]

Real-time tracking:

ISS Now

And for zip-code based viewing info:

Spaceweather.com's Simple Satellite Tracker: International Space Station, spy satellites, Hubble Space Telescope

[Tleong]

Don't want to sound ignorant, but what is this?

[crosvs]

so my first attempt ever at capturing the space shuttle and/or international space station (there's your answer, Tleong), was moderately successful!!

quite an amazing experience ... quite an adrenaline rush too as they were traveling across the sky FASSSSSSSSSST. it was all i could do to juggle between my various recording options, although i decided very quickly that pure photography would be a fail.

accordingly, i got some good (although not enough) footage with my old 3CCD Sony DCR-TRV900 video camera on a tripod, capturing most of their path traveling from above Mt Tam towards the Moon, but stupidly only captured the glorious moon passing with my little Canon SD1100is in movie mode @ 3x zoom "mounted" to my Celestron 8x56 binoculars.

As the ISS & Atlantis passed by the moon, the brilliant white sunlight changed to the darkening red of the rapidly setting sun (from their vantage point) until, within second, they vanished. sadly, i captured this transition only on the handheld Canon but although bouncy, at least it reveals the amazing transition to the reddish reflection of the sunset.

i'll try and make an edit and post it online

[Weasel]

Watching the international space station cross the sky above you... kinda cool if you're at all interested in that kinda stuff. I'll look when it passes over me on Friday.

I wonder if the huge 500m zoom lens on the pentax on a tripod would be good enough to get a decent shot?

[crosvs]

yah dude, give it a shot. if i was able to get any footage at all with my setup, you'll definitely get something worthwhile

and honestly, i have to say- it's definitely not fascinating to see only if you're innately interested in that kinda stuff: it's an absolutely humbling, goose-bump inducing experience to see, and actually fathom, the magnitude of what you're witnessing. to see those two brilliant points of light streak across the sky, one slowly falling away from the other as the shuttle pulls away, it was definitely something i'll never forget.

then watching them fade through red to black as they went into their sunset was just amazing

[Tleong]

Sounds neat. I've never even seen a meteor shower

[motordavid]

A rare all day soaker, (for this time of year), here in SW FLA, so we couldn't
have seen the V Ships if they were overhead...we do see the ISS regularly
back on the Mtn, as those links have come up here before. Glad you got to
see it, crosvs.
GL,mD

[jaaX3]

I'll be checking this out tomorrow at 5pm, thanks!

[x5GuyInLA]

just saw the ISS fly by overhead...pretty cool to be able to see something man made that's in space. looked like a bright star except that it was moving pretty quickly. thanks for the heads up (no pun intended)

[jaaX3]

I was at an early dinner, missed it . I've got one more chance tomorrow (later today).