mini OR and OI: ISS

Having more or less finished building my new 12.5" dob, I took it out
last night for a tricky project: I was able to see and track the ISS.
I'm sure I'm not the first to try this with a dob, but I'd recommend
trying it. Pretty fun. The view was pretty wobbly since there was
quite a bit of "shutter shake", but I could definitely see that it was
quite irregular in shape. Also, there were clouds and branches in the
way, since it was skimming low. (It's fun also that the big dob can
see "through" thick branches).
Tonight (8:40pm) it will pass nearly directly over my house, so I'm
hoping the clouds stay away.
One feature that I plan to add (tonight?) is a 2nd secondary bracket so
that I can guide the scope from the opposite side while someone else
looks through the main eyepiece. I was planning to do this eventually
anyway for school star parties (they often bump stuff and the earth
turns). That way I can park the scope in the path and let it stop
wobbling (~1sec) while my friend can be looking, for clearer, shorter
views. The plan is to swap places at Dobson's hole.
Should make for an interesting 5 minutes.
Bill

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