International Space Station transit of the sun

[crimbfighter]

I use a website called transit finder to determine when and where the ISS will pass in transit of the sun. This allows the ISS to be a silhouette as it crosses over the sun. Yesterday it transited the sun and the transit was visible not too far from where I live. The transit duration was 0.79 seconds and occurred at 4:08:22pm. I used the high frame rate of my D500 to ensure I caught an image of it through my telescope. I started a burst several seconds ahead of the transit and continued for several seconds after to ensure I caught it. With the transit occurring with the sun high in the sky, it meant the ISS was face on and showed a great profile of the station and its large solar arrays.

Celestron 8" EdgeHD SCT telescope
Nikon D500
1/2000 sec at ISO2000
Equivalent focal length of 3000mm

 

[Jeff15]

Very interesting shot......

 

[K9Kirk]

Very cool shot. I bet they're bored and fooling around, playing "Spin the Bottle" and "Truth or Dare" up there.

 

[Jeff G]

Truly amazing shot! Looks like an inbound tie fighter!

 

[Soocom1]

Fascinating!

 

[Gardyloo]

Your astronomical photos are driving me crazy with envy. Keep it up!

 

[480sparky]

Here's what it takes to make one:

 

[edsland]

Great catch

 

[PJM]

Awesome shot!

 

[photoflyer]

Now that is an example of compression: the ISS looks like it is orbiting the sun, not Earth.

 

[Derrel]

Good shot.

 

[crimbfighter]

Very interesting shot......

Thanks!....

Very cool shot. I bet they're bored and fooling around, playing "Spin the Bottle" and "Truth or Dare" up there.

Haha, I'm sure. Oh wait, their days are scheduled down to the minute..

Truly amazing shot! Looks like an inbound tie fighter!

Thanks! That's actually not the first time I've heard that. It's like a frame taken out out of the movie's b roll.

Fascinating!

Agreed!

Your astronomical photos are driving me crazy with envy. Keep it up!

Thanks! As long as the skies are clear, I'll try!

 

[crimbfighter]

Here's what it takes to make one:

It was a little bit of a production, but holy cow, not as much as these guys put in! To catch a transit during and eclipse would be amazing!

Great catch

Thanks!

Awesome shot!

Thank you!

Now that is an example of compression: the ISS looks like it is orbiting the sun, not Earth.

It does, doesn't it?

Good shot.

Thank you!

 

[crimbfighter]

I also created a GIF of the transit from all of the frames I captured. It's interesting because knowing the transit duration, I was able to confirm the frame rate of my camera! I captured 8 frames with the ISS, and that matched the roughly .8 seconds of the transit at 10fps!

 

[weepete]

That's very cool. You've got me looking at astrophotography stuff now!