Opened: Thursday, 6 November 2014, 1420 MST Temperature: 84°F

Session: 741 Conditions: Clear, breezy

CalSky.com had alerted me to an ISS-Sun Transit this afternoon at 1539 MST. This is what their path prediction looked like:

I opened the observatory well in advance of the transit time to get ready for it. While waiting I did some test solar observing using my new Baader 8-24mm zoom eyepiece and William Optics Binoviewers with an Orion full-aperture solar filter on the 8" LX200-ACF. I'll report on the results on my upcoming product reviews.

1446 MST: I began preparations for the ISS-Sun transit. Mounted the D7000 DSLR at prime focus of the 8" telescope. Did a test image to verify exposure settings. 1457 MST: was now ready for the transit. While waiting I did some accessory re-arranging in the observatory to make room for my new accessories.

1538 MST: I began HD video recording at 1/1600sec, ISO 1000. Starting a little early and going past the predicted transit time would ensure that I got the International Space Station. The station was captured on the video. This is a magnified image from one frame:

Seeing was pretty bad during the transit, partly due to the strong breezes and partly due to the sun's low altitude in the sky.

The next image a composite of all the frames showing the transit. The ISS moved from the top (west) to the bottom (east) in 1.3 seconds. Click on the image to see a larger version (1.6 MB).

Click or tap on image for larger version

Closed: Thursday, 6 November 2014, 1548 MST Temperature: 71°F

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