[Chaos-l] Observing The ISS

[Robert Nielsen]

Everyone,

I'll let Michael explain what he actually saw in his telescope, but we 
DID actually get to see the ISS at Pettigrew State Park last night.   
There was a group of local residents who were intrigued by our large 
telescopes sitting the parking lot of the park office, and we pointed it 
out to them and I tried to see it in my binoculars.   Actually it was no 
problem, and  I could actually see "structure" in the image ... a tall 
stalk with four cross members which I assumed were the solar panels.   
Michael said he thought the panels were mostly edge-on ... in binoculars 
I couldn't actually tell.

I handed the binoculars to a young girl in the group, and she finally 
got to see it ... after learning how to sight things through binocs.  I 
guess she learned quickly!

More on the observing at Pettigrew in a later e-mail ...

Robert


Michael Hrivnak wrote:
>
> I am going to try to get a look at ISS on Monday night from Pettigrew. 
> It will make a pass arount 8:49 right through the bottom star of 
> Cassiopeia, just under the top star of Cepheus, just under Polaris, 
> and then will vanish about half way to Ursa Major. It will be about 
> magnitude -1.4 at its brightest.
>
> Is it worth trying to view through my scope? What sort of 
> magnification is ideal? Obviously I need to strike a balance between 
> seeing some detail and being able to follow the thing manually. What 
> has your experience been?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Michael
>
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