Wesley's Tool-Box

While the Sun is up in the sky, the Moon is still visible at the right phases due to its brightness. Although the Int'l Space Station can also become bright, it's only visible shortly before to about an hour after sunset. So when I found out that it was to pass in front of the Moon while the sky was fairly bright (36 minutes before sunset), I wasn't sure of the results. Would it look brighter or darker than the Moon? Would it even be visible when it's not in front of the Moon?

These questions were cleared up when I got the Moon at that moment on video. Because of the uncertainties and the quickness of the pass, I used 4k 30fps recording instead of the usual 7-frame burst mode on the P1000 camera. The prediction calculation was slightly off and the ISS was not centered, but I still managed to get more than 10 useful frames. The fuzziness is due to video compression, but it's far better than nothing. Interestingly enough, the radiators on the space station were quite a bit brighter than the surface of the Moon in general.

When we take a closer look, the prominent features of the ISS are easily discernible. The solar panels are stretching from top to bottom, while the Russian modules Zvezda (right) and Zarya (center) are more illuminated than the multi-national modules on the left. Considering this success, it looks like I should try the video recording again for the next ISS pass.

Device: Nikon P1000
Settings: 3000mm - ISO 400 - 1/1000s - f/8
Filters: None
Time: 2021-03-22 18:10:36 KST
Location: Buan, Korea
12 video frames processed with Pixelmator Pro 2.0

The International Space Station is usually in the Earth's shadow when it makes a pass in front of the Moon. But when the conditions are just right, you can see both illuminated by the Sun just like the photo I took above. When seen with the naked eyes, it looked as if a bright meteor was darting across the sky towards the Moon and eventually pass right through it. To witness this, I drove about 40km northeast to the edge of Damyang in the early morning.

Device: Nikon P1000
Settings: 3000mm - ISO 400 - 1/500s - f/8
Filters: None
Time: 2020-11-11 05:36:43 KST
Location: Damyang, Korea
6 photos processed with RegiStax 6.1.0.8 and Pixelmator Pro 1.8

SpaceX Crew Dragon launched on May 30, 2020, under the mission name DM-2, became the first privately operated spacecraft to reach the Int'l Space Station with a human crew. It is now docked to the Harmony module at the forward end until around August, which makes it possible to be seen when the station is overhead. I made some attempts to photograph it, and these are the first clear results coming from the space station's transit in front of the Sun.

With a distance of 448.9 km, the station would have an angular diameter of 61.6", which made it easier to notice the docked spacecraft in question. You can clearly see the difference when you compare the new photos to the one I took 5 years ago, when another SpaceX spacecraft, the Cargo Dragon, was berthed to the bottom of the Harmony module (and thus not distinguishable from the overhead view) for the CRS-6 mission.

To take these photos, I drove to Hamyang on my Bolt EV. It was about 100 km away from home, but the weather was excellent and I didn't want to waste a good opportunity. I was glad that everything went right. The photo from 5 years ago is an enlarged composite of multiple frames took by an iPhone through a telescope. But it seems that a single photo taken by Nikon P1000 on its own surpasses that with proper focusing, even though the setup is much simpler and lighter. I guess I'll be bringing around the camera to more places.

Device: Nikon P1000
Settings: 3000mm - ISO 200 - 1/2500s - f/8
Filters: None
Time: 2019-06-22 13:53:20 KST
Location: Hamyang, Korea

Previous tracking of the ISS with Nikon P1000 was alright, but I felt that it could have been better. Another good tracking opportunity came up yesterday, so I got my equipment ready and had another shot at it. Suffice to say, the results were quite satisfactory. Many of the shots came out quite clearly, you could see the division of each section easily. I did not need to resort to stacking - only the brightness and the sharpness were adjusted here.

The Space Station came closest to the observer on 18:48:49 (third photo) at a distance of 428km. Altitude from the ground was 411km at the time. You can see that the shots before that had the Zvezda module (lowest point in the second photo at 18:48:19) pointing at the observer, while the shorts after that had the Kibo-Harmony-Columbus modules (lower part of the middle section in the fifth photo at 18:49:49) doing that. Another thing to note is that I was looking at the general direction of the Sun, which had just had set below the horizon, before the space station made the closest approach. As the solar panels are always facing the Sun, I would be looking at the back of them in the first and the second photos, which is why they aren't illuminated and visible there.

Device: Nikon P1000
Settings: 3000mm - ISO 100 - 1/400 to 1/640s - f/8
Filters: None
Time: 2019-02-11 18:48-18:50 KST
Location: Naju, Korea

Orbital prediction indicated that the ISS would be seen passing in front of the Full Moon at a place about 20km away from home. Thanks to the Moon being at an altitude of more than 60 degrees, the space station was to pass close to the observer with an angular size of nearly one degree (58.7"). It seemed be a good opportunity for using the 7-frame full resolution burst mode of the Nikon P1000 camera, so I drove to the observation spot despite the cold weather (-4°C) and inconvenient time (3 AM).


There was about one second of difference in the transit time prediction between different tools, and the burst mode could only take the seven photos in a span of a single second. So I took a guess as to when to press the shutter button and hoped for the best. Luckily, I did manage to catch three frames out of it, as you can see here. The results were sharp and large enough to make out the individual solar panels and modules, proving the capabilities of the P1000's telephoto optics.

Device: Nikon P1000
Settings: 3000mm - ISO 200 - 1/1600s - f/8
Filters: None
Time: 2019-01-22 03:08:23 KST
Location: Yeongam, Korea