ISS flyover SE Michigan

[Ωhm]

For the last couple of days now the International Space Station (ISS) flies right over head of me. Pretty cool sight to see. Speed 17,500 mph. Takes about 3-4 minutes from horizon to horizon. That thing is a mov'in right along.

[madog7200]

Pics or it didn't happen!

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[Ωhm]

Best I can do.

[madog7200]

I was just kidding... just thought a picture of it going over might be cool


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[Ωhm]

[gogmorgo]

I've got an ISS tracking app on my phone. Yeah I know I'm a nerd. Lol. 

This was back in May.

Not the best quality photo, but not bad for my phone, that's the clearest I got of the ISS at least. The greenish light in the background is the northern lights. They put on a pretty decent show that night, this is looking towards the north, over top of my town, the first pic was looking south.

[DirtyComanche]

I'm impressed you got that good of shot of the northern lights on your phone.

 

I wish I could drag a better camera and tripod around with me.  I've seen them do some trippy stuff in the real north.

 

Seeing the ISS is cool too.

[gogmorgo]

There's another app I use, NightCap Pro, that allows for better low-light and manual control  of the camera than the native iPhone camera app does. You still need a tripod or some way to hold the phone steady. The app also allows a short timer before taking the photo so you don't risk as much shaking by hitting the shutter button, and you can also use the volume controls on the original headphones as a shutter remote. I generally end up propping the phone up on something and using the timer because I never really plan for it before hand.

 

The skies here haven't been all that clear any time I've been out and about about at night, so I haven't really seen too much here yet, not since that night at least. But back home in the middle of nowhere in Manitoba even as far south as I was, with zero light pollution we got some epic shows. Purples, reds, blues... Pretty crazy. And ridiculously difficult to shoot without proper gear, as you say. 

[fiatslug87]

The notifications you get from https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/ tell you the day, time, duration and trajectory. You only get a day's notice but it's pretty cool that you can see it, I've been watching it for the last several years.

[Minuit]

Iridium flares are pretty cool too.

 

Come to think about it I had an Android app about 3 phones ago that you could put your location into and it would give you exact times and directions for all sorts of different stuff.

 

 

[schardein]

I use the sky view app.

 

Caught this a while back.

[Pete M]

I waved at the clouds.  I assume the ISS was up there somewhere.  

[mjeff87]

I watched it....it was a beautiful night.

 

Hauling azz is an understatement.  Almost as fast as my KJ

[fiatslug87]

Anyone see it today? We saw it at about 5:15 pm pacific time and there was something trailing it, I think it was the Dragon resupply capsule launched yesterday that will be captured tomorrow. Pretty cool! Tried to snap a pic, ISS is the bright dot and Dragon is at ~10 o'clock 

[Ωhm]

Cool, didn't know anything about dragon. I can see it in your photo. My next chance is 26 Dec, Detroit time.

[fiatslug87]

And for you science nerds out there here it is being captured. 

 

[Pete M]

it's so cool to see science in action    probably not on par with seeing a rocket launch in person, but still sweet none the less to see the resupply coming to meet it.    

[Ωhm]

Update:

Expedition 54-55 Flight Engineers Scott Tingle of NASA, Anton Shkaplerov of Roscosmos and Norishige Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency are on their way to the space station after a launch earlier today from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2:21 a.m. EST Sunday, Dec. 17 (1:21 p.m. Baikonur time). The trio will orbit the Earth for approximately two days before docking to the space station’s Rassvet module, at 3:43 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 19. NASA TV coverage of the docking will begin at 3 a.m. Tuesday.