The ISS with BEAM and the Ring Nebula

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Ten days ago the ISS astronauts inflated the BEAM module, a new concept that may help (a lot) with the construction of large space stations, Mars and Moon exploration modules.

On the night of May 28 the ISS had a pass over my location at over 65 degrees above the horizon. On the same day the BEAM module was inflated, so I was hoping for good seeing to get a good resolution of this module. Together with my wife I’ve prepared the 8 inch scope and imaged the pass. Unfortunately, the seeing was bad, and thus the images are of poor quality. Nevertheless, some structural details are easily observed.

ISS with BEAM May 28, 2016.jpg

A comparison from the same session with the visible planets, again under the same poor conditions. Not the large apparent size of the ISS:

ISS AND PLANETS.jpg

And another image, this time a test-shot from May 31, using the 14 inch scope and the ASI 174MM camera at the focal plane (F/5) with an UV/IR cut filter, and no coma corrector. 274 frames, each a 1 second exposure, were used for the image. A lot of light pollution and bad seeing, but details inside this wonderful nebula are discernible.

M 57 MAY 31.jpg

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