In message , Skywise
writes
"William R Thompson" wrote in news:BcFNe.7007
:

"Roska Gozwild" wrote:

Is it possible to see the International Space Station from
Sydney/Australia with an 250 mm Dobsonian telescope of type as shown in
the following link (http://www.bintel.com.au/BT252.html) ?

Well . . .

You can spot the ISS from Sydney with your naked eye; got to

http://www.heavens-above.com/

to get pass predictions for your location.

Spotting it through a Dob is another matter. You'd need to
know exactly where the station will be in the sky, point the
telescope at the precise location and look just as it zips
across your field of view. If all goes well you *might* get
a glimpse of the station's T-shape.

Forget about tracking the station with a Dob. You
would have to know which way the bird is moving and
wrestle with the telescope to move it, and keep the ISS
in the field of view while not jamming the eyepiece into
your eye. Congratulations if you can manage it.

I have a 6" Newt on an EQ mount, no motors. I'm also an aviation
enthusiast so I sometimes practice tracking by manually tracking
aircraft.

I used to spend a lot of time looking at aircraft with my altazimuth
80mm refractor (easier to track) but I've never tried looking for ISS.
I should, because as you can see from this page you can not just see it
but image it!
http://www.djcash.demon.co.uk/astro/webcam/spacecraft.htm
Other people have done the same.