June 24, 2020
Moving at eight kilometers (five miles) per second, the International Space Station (ISS) circles our planet every 90 minutes. In a 24-hour period, crew members on the ISS experience 16 sunrises and sunsets. Despite how often the station passes directly between Earth and the Sun, capturing an image of the ISS transiting our nearest star is rare.
On June 24, 2020, NASA photographer Joel Kowsky captured such an occurrence from Fredericksburg, Virginia. The image above is a composite, made from six frames, and shows the ISS in silhouette as it moved from right to left across the solar disk while orbiting 400 kilometers (250 miles) above Earth.
The image below shows the position of the ISS in its orbit as Kowsky snapped his photos at approximately 1:15 p.m. U.S. Eastern Daylight Time. The transit lasted approximately 0.54 seconds and was captured while his camera was shooting at 10 frames per second. Watch a video of the transit below.
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Ten photographs assembled in sequence show the International Space Station, with a crew of five onboard, in silhouette as it transits the Sun at roughly five miles per second, Wednesday, June 24, 2020, from Fredericksburg, Va. Onboard are Expedition 63 NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy, Douglas Hurley, Robert Behnken, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky) Note: Sequence repeats three times.
Kowsky says many websites help identify when the ISS will be transiting the Sun, but weather and timing are usually the main issues for shooting clear photos. “With a very limited path of visibility along the ground, having clear weather at the identified location is one of the most limiting factors in being able to capture a transit,” said Kowsky, who had weather ruin a recent attempt. Proper safety equipment is also necessary when photographing the Sun, as looking directly at it can damage your eyes.
June 24, 2020
NASA has previously published images of the ISS crossing the Sun, including during the total solar eclipse in August 2017. Recent transit images (such as the one below) have also shown a lack of sunspots as the Sun enters a period of low solar activity known as the solar minimum.
The Space Station Crosses a Spotless Sun. That’s no sunspot. It’s the International Space Station (ISS) caught passing in front of the Sun. Strangely, besides that fake spot, in this recent two-image composite, the Sun lacked any real sunspots. The featured picture combines two images — one capturing the space station transiting the Sun — and another taken consecutively capturing details of the Sun’s surface. Image Credit & Copyright: Rainee Colacurcio
Photograph by NASA/Joel Kowsky. Earth Observatory map by Joshua Stevens.
Source: SciTechDaily
