I’ve been having fun tracking the International Space Station using the free Linux satellite tracking package Gnome Predict. This morning’s pass was exceptionally good, with the space station sailing almost directly over my home in Raleigh.

I took a series of long-exposure photographs to try to capture the station’s path across the sky but the station’s high path presented a problem. My 18mm lens was not nearly as wide as it needed to be to capture the almost 180 degree arc the station traveled in. Thus, I had to hastily reposition my camera and tripod in the dark as the station progressed through the sky and simply hope for the best.

The truth is, I should have gotten up about 10 minutes sooner in order to get things set up, but I misremembered the approach time.

If I get into this hobby further (and I think I will) I will have to get one of those equatorial mounts in order to keep the stars from blurring as the Earth rotates. Time to start saving up, I guess!

For those of you who have not yet discovered Linux, you can also track the ISS at the legendary site Heavens Above or at SightSpaceStation.