Shuttle/ISS Sightings Abound Next Few Days

Tonight at 7:54pm EST, the Space Shuttle will un-dock from the International Space Station. Upon separation, the two celestial voyagers can be seen as companion bright points of light moving slowly across the sky as they orbit the Earth. Needless to say, this can make a great photo opportunity.

Now, there's good and bad news: First, the good: there will be a lot of flybys in the next few days-opportunities abound. Second, these are short duration appearances, a well-timed break in the clouds can make a great photo as, even in the low passes, a lot of sky will be covered.

Now the bad: many of these appearances are at dawn, very close to sunrise, which is bad. The eye will have no problem picking up the Shuttle and ISS, but the a camera in long exposure mode will have a hard time as the longer the shutter is open, the brighter the sky will be and the greater the chance that the streaks of light will be lost in the brightness. Expect to post-process here.

How to take the photos? First, get a tripod. Next, use the remote release of your camera, preferably, or the time delay mode. Stop down the lens and set to low ISO for as long of an exposure as possible . Finally, when the targets appear, fire away. Also, don't forget to shoot RAW just in case!

As encouragement, here's a shot I got this morning at about 6:35am.

Follow the links below to find out when the Shuttle and ISS will be visible.

NE Ohio Flyby Times
Other Locations

Spaceweather

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