Saturday, March 21, 2009

ISS and Space Shuttle


WoW! tonight the International Space Station with the Space Shuttle attached came overhead at 7.20pm. I have seen the ISS lots of times before, but never as bright as tonight!
A spectacular sight!
I took some pictures with my Canon 350D mounted on a tripod in the back garden. Here it is passing through the constellation of Orion.
The ISS has its new solar panels fitted, so this along with the Space Shuttle makes it a huge object in space.

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Comet Lulin

Comet Lulin located just below the Beehive Cluster in the Southern sky.
This comet was not easy to find, took this image on Thursday last week. Earlier in the week the comet could be seen easily with binoculars, but I just couldn't find it myself!
I found it by first of all finding the Beehive cluster with my telescope then moving downwards taking photos along the way with the Canon 350D until Lulin appeared in the frame.
This is the first time that I have taken my Skywatcher 80ED out for a long time, conditions were good apart from the Moon which was nearby.
I like the tail on the comet, this is first one that I have managed with a tail on it!