Spotting and filming the International Space Station (ISS)

There are so many sky objects and events for the amateur/beginner to capture using the simple technique described in the book. One that is great fun is to photograph the trails of the ISS.

The ISS reflects sunlight very brightly and even with camera alone a long trail can be recorded. Using a camera positioned afocally against the eyepiece of a telescope more adventurous pictures can be obtained such as the ISS passing close to particular stars and planets or even across the Moon and Sun. Here are some movies though not of high quality since most compact digital cameras use at most 640 x 480 and often much less.