I was really disappointed last Sunday with the telescope when a) the wind picked up at sunset and b) the clouds rolled in before the wind died down. I had hoped to get the ISS–I mean, a good image, but I couldn’t even see it, let alone photograph it.
So I was calsky’ing it yesterday, and found out that just some 34 miles from my home, the ISS will transit the sun right across the center of it’s disc, in an area I can set up the telescope to observe even! And the forecast (God willing, they got it WRONG last Sunday) is for clear skies! I’ve done my research, using shots of the Venusian transit to determine the optimal settings I’ll need to get the shot I want (ISO 200, 1/2500th, of course the lens is f/6.3 and there’s nothing to be done about that.)
The whole thing lasts 1.54 seconds. I’ll leave home at 3am, set up at 4am to get a good polar alignment, wait 4.75 hours, hopefully get all my shots, drive home, unload the gear, and will have thus spent approx. 6 hours of prep/post time for maybe 4-6 frames that I had damned well better get right, and not screw up in any way. 😛
So wish me luck. Or, not, because if I do capture it, you can damned well be sure it will be used in Farkstronomy 2 (and anywhere else I can use however many extra frames I get.
The bad part is there aren’t any interesting sunspots right now. It’s going to be bland–but it’s on my bucket list and I’m hoping for…something decent, at least.
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