Vaun's photography Loc: Bonney Lake, WA

Last night was clear so I took some star photos and think I captured the ISS passing overhead.

I'll let you folks decide what you think.

I had to zoom in to see the possible path running from west to east. I could barely see it passing with my eyes.

(Download)

Mongo Loc: Western New York

One trick I have used to spot things is to take a time exposure with the camera on the tripod. When shooting the comet a couple of years ago, I could not identify it. So I shot the region of the sky, for 1 minute, then re-aimed the camera and shot again. A couple of iterations, and I had the framing just right for the final shots.

Vaun's photography Loc: Bonney Lake, WA

Thanks for your comment. I'm guessing you may have looked as well. This was a 30"exposure.

Mongo Loc: Western New York

I wasn't looking. But I did not see it in your photo. Normally I can spot the ISS simply by movement, and most often by the distinctive shape, depending upon lighting. There are starfinder/tracking apps which also track the ISS. They might help you identify it.

Lee Thomas Loc: Michigan

Hi,
I looked for the ISS trail but could not find it. The link will take you to a capture I made of the ISS a while back using a 20 second exposure on a tripod. https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-713547-1.html

There is a site that will notify you when the ISS is passing over your location. As soon as I find it,I'll post it.
Sincerely,
Lee

It is spotthestation.nasa.gov . It will only send you a message when there is a good viewing opportunity. Sadly, so many times it is overcast in my location.
Lee

Vaun's photography Loc: Bonney Lake, WA

Thanks for looking and for your comments. I'll try editing a bit to see if I can improve the visibility.

Vaun's photography Loc: Bonney Lake, WA

Edited in-expertly in Snapseed app on my Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G. But the trail is now more visible starting at the tree top and moving diagonally upwards to the right.

(Download)

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

Awesome 🖤🎗️🏆🎗️🖤

Vaun's photography Loc: Bonney Lake, WA

Thanks for looking and for your compliment 😀 Joe! Much appreciated.

manofhg Loc: Knoxville, TN

While I see the trail just above the tree and going up to the right, I doubt it was the ISS just do to how dim it is. As someone else commented and shared a link to a picture they made of the ISS passing, it was much brighter than your capture. You also stated that you could barely see it with your naked eyes. The ISS is probably the 3rd brightest thing in the sky following the the sun, moon and Venus. I think I'm correct on that. I do know that there will be no question as to whether you can see it or not. What you captured is probably a satellite which sometimes are very faint. One way to know when to look for the ISS or any satellite is to go to https://www.satview.org/?sat_id=46055U. You can look at what satellites will be passing, get notifications of when and where to look, etc.

Satellites are always silent, don't blink, move fairly rapidly across the sky, and may appear (or disappear) in the middle of the sky as opposed to starting/finishing at the horizon. All the light you see is reflected sunlight and not a light on the satellite. So as soon as they go into the shadow from the earth, they become invisible.

ken patton Loc: Portland, OR

There is a site ,“ISS Tracker”, which will give you the position of the ISS based on a city closest to you. ISS is in a pretty low orbit so it looks like a plane with its landing lights on compared to other satellite’s. My wife worked at Kennedy Space Center launching the shuttles which carried the various ISS sections which were then assembled in space. Sure do miss those shuttle flights……..

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Probably not the ISS. There was no passing of the ISS at your location at the time the photograph was taken.
--Bob

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

Too bad that when you open the image at maximum size the top part has an add plastered on top. This is not your problem, but UHH just trying to pay the bills.

wishaw

Go to NASA.gov. They will send you an email when the space station is visible in your area. https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/signup.cfm

Vaun's photography Loc: Bonney Lake, WA

Thanks for your comment and the link. Having not knowingly seen the ISS before I was simply judging by the info that it travels west to east every 90 minutes.

As to comparing my photo with another's I'm not sure how helpful that was because I don't see exif data on my phone.

I'll admit I may have simply caught a satellite.