ISS and Sunset and City Skyglow

That was taken Saturday evening 6 miles south of Eskridge, Kansas.

The International Space Station was incoming from the southwest. There are two faint airplane light-trails barely visible in the lower portion, esp. on larger renditions.

The magnitude was reported at -2.7 which is "bright".

Jupiter is the other feature in the dark sky.

Nikon D700, Nikor 28 mm manual lens at f/5.6, ISO 200 (so it says on the metadata; I thought it was 600?). 30 sec. exposure.

Skyglow is Emporia, Kansas; the sunset was in the region of the bluish sky to the right.

spaceweather.com has a link for satellite times and brightness as well as other interesting stuff.

the fisch

Beautiful image, Larry...well done, and thanks for the link for spaceweather.
Joe Rogers

That is SO cool! What a great shot. Thanks for the info.

Cool shot, Larry. Which manual focus 28mm Nikkor are you using? For star photography, I really like the f/2.8 Ai-s version since it is really sharp wide open.

Very nice shot! That is nice color from the city. I would have probably gone for f/2.8 and higher ISO, but the movement works well!

Beautiful shot, I really like all the color in the sky you captured along with the stars.

Excellent capture from the ground into space.

Isaac,

I can't answer your question.

First I'm not sure what Ai-s is.

I know there are two 28 mm Nikkors, manual, of older vintage, which mine is.

One is a close focus. The other not so close. The former, I think, was the better lens.

Mine focuses to about 10 to 11 inches. I would have to review which lens it is. You may be used to the more modern lenses???

the fisch

Aaron,

I wanted the movement of the ISS. The required a long exposure and tighter aperature.

You idea would have been good for Jupiter and the stars. They left a trail seen on enlargement and Jupiter was fuzzed out by the high clouds present.

the fisch

Larry,

The two 28mm Nikkors you are referencing are actually both Ai-s lenses. You are correct that the close-focus version is the sharper lens, and it is the lens I was talking about. It focuses to 20cm (7.9in).

To Brian Cormack,

Brian, go to: spaceweather.com

This site has reference to another site which will give you the exact times, by zip code, of approach and exit as well as the highest point. The time usually lags by a minute or more because the ISS doesn't get far enough above the horizon to be seen.

I usually set up before and take a few test shots with aperature, ISO and time adjuments following my assessment.

If you shoot near sundown the exposures change rapidly.

I own the close focus 28mm Nikkor AIS which is indeed very sharp even wide open on my 5D Mark II. This lens is also spectacular reversed... Creating about a 5:1 ratio macro (5x that of 1:1). Reverse that lens on a Nikon PB-4 Bellows and you can get a 9:1 macro.

Aaron,

Can you explain "reversing" the lens? I've vaguely heard of this but don't know how??

Looks like I should go for the AL-S. I'm not really sure how to tell the difference. Mine focuses, as near as I can tell, to about 11" to the film plane, which is about 7" to the front of the lens. I have never seen AL or AL-S on any lens I've looked at on the net.

My aperature numbers are colored and embossed on the black ring. It looks as if the AL-S has those numberers on a silver ring.....

Awaiting your reply. Will also e-mail you.

You get a threaded 58mm (I think) to EOS or NIkon adapter on ebay and just flip the lens. The macro ability is insane...