Houston area, Intl Space Station pass tonight at 655pm

[masraum]

Tonight, the ISS should be the third brightest thing in the sky after the moon (nearly overhead) and Venus (in the south west). For me here on the southeast side of Houston, the pass will run from the NW to the ESE. The maximum elevation will be about 60* from the horizon. It should start at 1855 and end at 1900.

If you miss it, it'll be just as bright Friday between 1815 and 1821, but pass almost directly overhead at 79* elevation and NW --> SE.

It'll also be passing Tomorrow and Sat, but it'll be lower in the sky. I did get to see it twice last night as well.

If you want to get the stats for passes for your location.....

http://www.heavens-above.com/

You'll want to put in your location to get accurate numbers. You can also get predictions for other things besides ISS.

[rouxroux]

That was a perfectly clear pass for us...whizzed right past Scorpio!

[masraum]

Yeah, very cool. I took my 8" dob out and tracked it at my lowest power. Even then, it's hard to keep in the field of view, but I could actually make out some structure including a copper colored solar cell.

We're supposed to be partly cloudy for the next several days, so I'm glad that I caught it tonight. Glad that you cought it too.

[BRPORSCHE]

Thanks for the heads up steve. I saw it perfectly.

[David]

Damn, I missed the thread. I guess I need to spend more time here

[slodave]

Where are the pix?

[masraum]

Anyone in the Houston Area can use this link to get good stats for our lat/long and timezone.

Link for Houston

You can see the latitude and longitude for my house in the URL (should be close enough for anything near Houston) and our timezone.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by slodave

Where are the pix?

Not very exciting. streak at bottom left is a plane (I don't live to far from an airport), and the longer straight one is ISS.



Mine are no where near as cool as this guys. You need a webcam linked to a telescope to get these. I don't have a webcam.
http://astrospider.com/


Or this guys'
http://www.martin-wagner.org/Homepage_Englisch.htm

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by masraum

Yeah, very cool. I took my 8" dob out and tracked it at my lowest power. Even then, it's hard to keep in the field of view, but I could actually make out some structure including a copper colored solar cell.

We're supposed to be partly cloudy for the next several days, so I'm glad that I caught it tonight. Glad that you cought it too.

Hey, if you ever need any advice/ideas for your scope, PM me. I know just about anything and everything that an amateur can do (I build, designed, modified, and fixed everything from 8 inch to 160 inch scopes). I can do housecalls

[masraum]

Mike, thanks, I may take you up on that. A house call would be easy, IIRC, you live on the South East side, Clear Lake area. I'm just across 45 in Friendswood.

One of these days, I want to smooth up the action and build a light shield. I do much/most of my observing from my driveway, between the streetlight and occasional passing car, a light shield would be nice. What I really ought to do is build a portable enclosure to block out the light from streetlights and my neighbors' porch lights.

If you can think of any must have recommendations, I'm all ears. I've got a Zhumell 8" dob with dual speed Crayford focuser (came with the scope). It's pretty much as I bought it.

Thanks for the offer.

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by masraum

Mike, thanks, I may take you up on that. A house call would be easy, IIRC, you live on the South East side, Clear Lake area. I'm just across 45 in Friendswood.

Actually, I'm on the far West side, Richmond and the Beltway...but it's been 2 years since I've used an eyepiece, and I'd drive a bit to get back into that

It was my passion, my hobby, and my job before I came here, something I did for 20 years, and I should put a modicum of effort into keeping that around me.

[slodave]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

I can do housecalls

Really?

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by slodave

Really?

Actually, yes. If I ever become financially solvent, I want to make my own scopes, and do custom private observatories for people. If you have the spare change, I can find a way to come out and get you rolling

[slodave]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

Actually, yes. If I ever become financially solvent, I want to make my own scopes, and do custom private observatories for people. If you have the spare change, I can find a way to come out and get you rolling

I need (OK, would like) a small (but powerful) portable setup. Looking at stars in the middle of the Greater L.A. area sucks.

[masraum]

Yeah, that's definitely the opposite side of Houston. I used to live near I-10 and the beltway. Yeah, I'm new to the hobby. Less than a year with a scope. I'd really like to do some Astro-Photo, but don't have the money for it right now. I'm happy observing. I really need to start getting out to a dark site (as dark as you can get near Houston). The George Obs isn't too far from me, maybe 45mins or less. Getting away from light pollution makes an enormous difference. I'd really like to schedule a week or two vacation in west Texas where there should be little to no light pollution.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by slodave

I need (OK, would like) a small (but powerful) portable setup. Looking at stars in the middle of the Greater L.A. area sucks.

Why's it need to be small? With telescopes, aperture rules. Dobsonians are relatively portable and very simple to setup. If you went with a truss dob, it's even more portable, but requires a bit more setup.

A 4" refractor would also not be a bad choice.

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by slodave

I need (OK, would like) a small (but powerful) portable setup. Looking at stars in the middle of the Greater L.A. area sucks.

I charge $200 a hour to tell you that your fuched, and want the world on a silver platter

Originally Posted by masraum

Yeah, that's definitely the opposite side of Houston. I used to live near I-10 and the beltway. Yeah, I'm new to the hobby. Less than a year with a scope. I'd really like to do some Astro-Photo, but don't have the money for it right now. I'm happy observing. I really need to start getting out to a dark site (as dark as you can get near Houston). The George Obs isn't too far from me, maybe 45mins or less. Getting away from light pollution makes an enormous difference. I'd really like to schedule a week or two vacation in west Texas where there should be little to no light pollution.

I used to drive an hour on the freeway out of Chicago to get reasonable skies (during the week) and closer to 90 minutes on the weekend to get dark skies.

Then I moved to Arizona, where I could see the Milky Way on a good night in my yard...in the middle of Tucson

Honestly, PM me if you want help/ideas/ whatever. I worked at Kitt Peak, Mt Bigelow, and Mt Hopkins in AZ. I did camera design for them, did operations at all 3, and did mirror recoating for them, and Lick, and Palomar...I also discovered a gamma ray burst when I was doing research. I was also the prime astronomer at the SkyWatcher's Inn before they changed ownership.

[slodave]

Originally Posted by masraum

Why's it need to be small? With telescopes, aperture rules. Dobsonians are relatively portable and very simple to setup. If you went with a truss dob, it's even more portable, but requires a bit more setup.

A 4" refractor would also not be a bad choice.

Because you can't read my thoughts.

Many years ago, my dad had a client/friend who wanted a telescope, but his wife would not let him... He bought one anyway and had my dad keep it. It was quite large - which was great, but also made it a pain to move, even 30 feet from the indoors to where we set it up outside.

I could not image lugging that thing up/down two sets of stairs, packing it into the car and setting up at some freezing location. Storage space is the other consideration.

One day...

[slodave]

I'm also looking to go bigger than 1000mm. This is about what I get when I borrow my dads 200-400 and 1.7 tc. Call me spoiled...

Would also like a camera mount.