ISS and Space Shuttle Transit of the Sun

August 05, 2005

Shuttlesun

Provided by: Anthony Ayiomamitis
Summary authors & editors: Anthony Ayiomamitis; Jim Foster

After trying very intensely the past four years to photograph the International Space Station (ISS) transit either the Sun and or Moon, everything fell into place this past Thursday (July 28). I was finally able to capture the ISS docked with the Space Shuttle Discovery as they transited the solar disk. The ISS was launched in November of 1998 and the Space Shuttle was launched just last week, on July 26. A transit of the Moon or Sun by a low Earth orbit satellite actually isn't a rarity, but they're not often observed or preserved on film. Note the rather large sunspot to the left of the ISS transit. Click on image for higher resolution.

Related Links: