HST Transit Attempt: Failure is How We Learn

I camped out in Chris and Katie's backyard last night with my Nikon D750 and telescope (Sky Watcher Evostar 72ED) to try and capture a transit of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) across the face of the Moon. Unfortunately, I didn't capture it. I'm not too surprised... stories from people who have captured a lunar transit of the International Space Station (ISS) often describe making 4-5 attempts before success and the ISS is about 10 times as large as HST in the sky (between HST being both physically smaller and about half again further away). 

This was my second attempt at a lunar satellite transit. I'd done a test shot of a transit of the Chinese Space Station (Tiangong) a few weeks ago. For that one, I had tried shooting a rapid series of shots but with the transit only lasting about a few seconds, I just was not shooting fast enough to capture it. That led to my plan for last night to try shooting 60 frame per second video with the goal of using individual frames to create a composite image. Assuming I had captured anything. Which I didn't. :-(

The evening wasn't a total bust though. On the one hand, I got useful information about trying to shoot video to capture something like a lunar transit. The high ISO I used resulted in far too much noise, so much so that I suspect the HST is there in my video but lost in the noise. I need to do some night time Moon video test shots to see how low I can set the ISO and still get decent video. I also learned that trying this when the moon is so close to the horizon (it was at only about 11 degrees, just above the trees along the back of their property) just makes it tougher since with it that low means shooting through more atmosphere and there is also more air turbulence. 

The end result of the evening (besides the things I learned) is this hazy shot of a first quarter moon, created with some editing in Photoshop to merge two images; one with the Moon properly exposed and the other with the high, thin clouds showing (but in which the Moon was completely washed out). 

Learning something new every day! 

Help Choose Where to Point Hubble

If you're like me, you've enjoyed seeing some of the really amazing photographs produced over the years by the Hubble Space Telescope like this one of the Cat's Eye Nebula. Whether your interest is in the scientific advances associated with its imaging or just the sheer beauty, I think most all of us find the Hubble images uniquely fascinating.

Well, now you can have a say in where Hubble will point next. In conjunction with the International Year of Astronomy 2009, NASA has created a site - You Decide Hubble's Next Discovery - where you can vote for one of six possible targets.

Votes can be cast through March 1st, after which Hubble will image the winning object. It will be released during the IYA 100 hours of Astronomy held April 2nd through 5th. After casting your vote, you can also register to win one of 100 prints of the released image. If you are a teacher or educator, NASA has also developed special classroom activities so your kids can participate in the event.

So get over there now to cast your vote... I have. We'll see who's favorite shows up in April!