ISS Tryptych

ISS earlier this evening from the Hutt Valley, with Shuttle Atlantis presumably somewhere nearby after undocking on the previous orbit (which was also near NZ according to the blurb). Slightly more successful this time, but not as dark a location as I would have liked (note lens flares...).


The final shot has the ISS trail fading out as it passes into the Earth's shadow. Here is where it was geographically at the time I took the photographs (image source Heavens-Above.com ) :
I tried to catch it again on it's next orbit about 90 minutes later, but it was too low on the horizon and too long after sunset to photograph. Since I had the tripod out I took a couple of constellation photos instead. I'm still figuring out astrophotography. It is a bit tricky.

Scorpius:
The Southern Cross (top of frame)with the Milky Way trailing below it: