by Matthew Cobb
If you are on any social media, especially Twitter, you will probably have come across Commander Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield on Twitter) the Canadian who is in charge of Earth’s very own spaceship, the International Space Station. He has been tweeting from space (TWEETING FROM SPACE!) and in particular has been taking pictures of Earth, some of which have featured on WEIT. He has photographed most of Earth’s major cities at night (we had Manchester the other week). In this video Commander Hadfield explains how he takes his pictures from the ISS. Includes both lots of lovely pics, and suitably nerdy camera-speak for those of you who are into F-stops and ISOs.
Oh, and if you want to wave at the ISS as it zooms over your part of Earth (it is an amazing sight), go here and select your country from the drop-down menu on the left. Click through and you’ll eventually get information for your location.
What first struck me is how that camera physically handles in space…it’s like he’s got the most ultimate ever gimbal tripod without the tripod. Just position the camera wherever you want with a finger or two, let go, and it basically stays right there. No fiddling with knobs or clamps or screws to release it, reposition it, secure it…just point and shoot.
One thing, though…I think he’s missing out on a lot by focussing so much on the daylight side. The terminator is much more likely to have interesting light, especially when the station is at an oblique angle to it.
Definitely a unique perspective. One I’d love to experiment with for so many reasons…and one I’m sure I’ll never have the chance to….
Thanks for the link, Jerry!
b&
… and if you want to wave at the ISS as it zooms over your part of Earth …
you can also stop by a wonderful site that I never tire of called Heavens-above.com
It’s for satellite observers and comet and asteroid watchers and sky enthusiasts everywhere. First tell it where you are (select from a map or give it your co-ords OR you can even select your place from its database – it knows *everywhere* down to the village level), then just roam around. Sky charts for your sky right now or anytime past or future. Under the heading ‘Satellites’ it lists 10 day predictions for all your well known and lesser known satellites. Then there’s Iridium satellites – watch them flare in broad daylight. Amaze your friend(s)!
YESSS. All should click on that link to find when the ISS is flying over you. I have done it many times, and it is totally cool. The table you will find will have some technical jargon but what you want to have is a combination of parameters:
1. A time you are awake, and when it is reasonably dark. I always ignore the A.M. times. You may need to wait for as long as a month before you get a good sighting time.
2. Look at the length of times that the ISS is visible. 4 or more minutes generally (not always) means it will be getting sufficiently above the horizon where you can see it.
3. Max elevation. Larger numbers (60 to 80 degrees), means it will get high enough in the sky to see over nearby trees or houses.
Of you need a reasonably cloudless sky. No moon is best, but a full moon will not keep you from seeing it. Start about 1 minute early, and look toward the west. Depending on the approach angle it may be coming more towards the north or south, so keep a wide scan going. The data on the table can help narrow down the direction to look.
Look for an object easily as bright as Venus, with a slight gold color, silently gliding into view. It moves about as fast as the second hand on a clock. That’s no plane. It’s a spaceship.
That’s the strangest ‘justification’ of the sunny sixteen rule I’ve ever heard.
f/16 is a complete waste from 240 miles up. Pics would come out better if he used something like f/5.6 to hit the sweet spot, reduce diffraction, and get a higher shutter speed, and took metering off of Matrix.
I hope he understands (or can at least explain) the space tech better than the camera tech! 😀
Not only, that, but, at ISO 200, he’s looking at a shutter speed of 1/200.
I don’t recognize Nikon gear, but that [i]is[/i] a 400mm lens. And either it’s an older model without image stabilization he needs to get that shutter speed into the 1/500 range to avoid blur or it’s got image stabilization and he can go a lot slower than 1/200.
Plus, it’s a 400mm f/2.8. No matter what generation lens, it’s going to be amazingly sharp at f/2.8, and it’s not going to get any better past f/4. At f/16, the image is going to be noticeably softer from diffraction.
And I completely agree that there’s no need for autoexposure. Everything on the daylight side is going to be perfectly exposed and optimally sharp with any lens at ISO 200 @ f/5.6 @ 1/2000 — especially considering depth of field considerations are moot. Autoexposure is just going to get confused by clouds or water or anything else that’s not 18% reflective.
The night side could be a bit more interesting for setting exposure depending on the phase of the moon, but even that’s going to be very predictable — something he should be looking up rather than letting the camera decide for him.
Cheers,
b&
I used to have a Nikon 400mm f3.5. It was best at f5.6.
Can the ISS be seen in detail with a home telescope?
Not really in detail but it is possible, under the right conditions to make out some features especially since the ISS is such a large base these days. Have you seen the Astro Photography of Thierry Legault? Have a look at http://www.astrophoto.fr/
Heavens-above.com shows you the predicted path across the sky by means of a sky chart. Armed with that you can find the point in the sky where the ISS will be at its nearest to you. Friends of mine have been able to get images in this way, via a webcam showing some degree of shape. Also see the videos on youtube “ISS amateur ground tracking” by Lucian Coulson.
Some pretty amazing pics! I specially liked the ones of Atlantis and the ISS in front of the sun. Videos are also good. Thanks buddy.
Thanks, Matthew. Here’s a cool video of Hadfield wringing out water in space. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8TssbmY-GM
Very cool experiment
CMD Hadfield once replied directly to one of my tweets to him. FROM SPACE!!!
He just cleared up that the ISS works on UTC. Still, thrilling to get a direct tweet FROM SPACE!!!