The app said the angular size of the ISS would be 47.94 arc seconds during this transit. I searched for a time where the angular size would be fairly large and would make the ISS seem to be larger so I could get more detail in the photo. The planet Venus can reach more than 60 arc seconds when it's close to Earth, comparable to the ISS size in optimal conditions. For comparison, the angular size of the Moon or Sun is usually between 1800-1900 arc seconds. Angular size is measured in arc seconds, or 1/3600ths of a degree. The further away the smaller it would appear. Sometimes the ISS will be at higher in the sky (i.e further away from the observer) than other times. That being said, not all transits are equal.Īngular Size - A good transit is defined as having a large angular size which basically means how large the station will appear to the observer. The trick is yourself into a position where the sun is in line with the space station and to do this you need to change your position on earth and since the earth and ISS are constantly moving in relation to the sun, you need to be not only in the right place but you have to be there at exact right time as well. Getting into position - The space station orbits Earth about every 90 minutes, so that means in a 24 hour day, the space station orbits approximately 16 times but this doesn’t mean that you can see it 16 times per day. I started poking around the interwebs looking for a way to predict where it would be and stumbled upon a website that calculates solar and lunar ISS (International Space Station) transits. The easiest way to get a photo of the space station is by taking a picture of it when it transits the sun or the moon. I always wanted to get a picture of the space station and had seen photos on the internet by other people who had managed to do it. I was messing around with my telescope the other night and kept seeing satellites fly by.
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