to all ground observers...are there any special techniques for observing the ISS and/or the Shuttle using a telescope?I have a 3-4 inch refractor here, and have tried spotting the ISS with it when any opportunity arrived... but since that thing moves so quick, I'm having difficulty even putting my scope's view to the orbit path of the station... and when I sometimes got lucky, its even harder to keep the station in my field of view...the only detail I recalled seeing are the P-6 truss SAWs (back when the ISS was still in its post STS-113 config)
Keep both eyes open. Before you start, find something (like the moon or a bright star) and figure out where in your vision that object appears relative to the telescope view. Your brain merges the images, and the "dot" seen with your non-scope'd eye will appear somewhere in the telescope's field-of-view. Memorize that, and when the ISS comes by put it at that same place and it will magically appear in the scope'd eye.
