Photo details: 5-inch AP refractor, Baader solar filter, Luminera 2-0 camera
Posted on 03/27/2010 9:42:31 AM PDT by ETL
Yesterday in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, astrophotographer John Stetson and his son Peter observed a very rare event--a sunspot-space station conjunction:
Photo details: 5-inch AP refractor, Baader solar filter, Luminera 2-0 camera
"We knew when to look thanks to a prediction from CalSky," says Stetson. "The International Space Station transited the solar disk in only 0.62 seconds. We managed to catch the station's silhouette just as it was passing sunspot 1057." Stetson has been photographing solar transits for years; he ranks this one as "the best yet."
As far as we know, this is the first time the ISS has been observed in conjunction with a big sunspot.
http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=26&month=03&year=2010
That’s no space station!
That’s no space station!
Pretty puny, really. In the 90's I could see them with the naked eye with proper cloud cover.
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO:
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/
This must have been taken at night, for the space station to be so close to the sun.
hahahahahaha
ROTFLMAO. It could have been at night???? I suppose???
Who’s night is is???
LOL!!! Yeah, the inhabitants would have burned up if it was taken during the day!
Cool photo.
MM
Keeping in mind that approximately 109 planet Earths could be placed side-by-side across the ~900,000 mile diameter of the Sun, this sunspot pair is somewhere around 60,000 to 65,000 miles across (approximating). Plus, how do you know you can't see this one with the naked eye under proper cloud conditions. Have you tried? I've been doing this for 15 years or longer. Believe me, this one is a long way from "puny".
The Sun needs a sneeze guard.
Cool pic!
The Earth, btw, is roughly 8,000 miles in diameter.
What’s this again?
I just saw the headline- something about a huge pair.
Maybe the ISS’s throttle got stuck wide open?
Where is the California Highway Patrol when you need them?
Time to deploy the drag chute!!
...and "it's interior extremely hot, several million degrees"...Algore.
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO:
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/
CalSky: A very cool tool.
Amateur astronomers again make international news!
Great shot and great timing John Stetson!
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