SAS Astronomy Pictures of the Month [May, 2026]
Tracking the ISS and CSS! and more Galaxies!
Well, I did it!…I finally finished my closed loop satellite tracking program! These are some preliminary videos of some first light views of the International Space Station (Zarya/ISS) and the Chinese Space Station (Tiangong/CSS). I used my 12″ LX200 Meade on a Paramount MyT and ASI2600mc to do the high resolution imaging, and a 12mm focal length lens with an ASI120mc camera to do my low resolution satellite tracking.
The GIF below shows the results of an ISS pass in the early morning of April 21, 2026. The clip consists of 33 of the best frames (out of about 650!) from my tracking sequence alongside two model views of the ISS to show the isomorphism between the image and the actual structures. If you click here, you can see my low res tracking window associated with the ISS pass.
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Zarya (ISS) by Terry Riopka
The GIF clip below shows the best images over 3 different passes of the Chinese Space Station (Tiangong) taken on the nights of April 9th, 3rd and 6th (left to right). The number of “best” images is 36/255, 33/500, and 26/172 respectively). If you click here, you can see the low res tracking window associated with the April 9th pass, showing my closed loop tracking in action!
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Note… the images of the ISS and the CSS are not the same scale: the CSS is only a little over 1/3 the size of the ISS!
Tiangong (CSS) by Terry Riopka
M82 Cigar Galaxy in Ursa Major C6 f/10 ASI533MC IDAS NBz Filter (Ha + OIII NB) 22x5min Processed PI & PS
M82 in Ursa Major by David Murray