Posted on 09/23/2020 3:46:16 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: Yes, but have you ever seen the space station do this? If you know when and where to look, watching the bright International Space Station (ISS) drift across your night sky is a fascinating sight -- but not very unusual. Images of the ISS crossing in front of the half-degree Moon or Sun do exist, but are somewhat rare as they take planning, timing, and patience to acquire. Catching the ISS crossing in front of minuscule Mars, though, is on another level. Using online software, the featured photographer learned that the unusual transit would be visible only momentarily along a very narrow stretch of nearby land spanning just 90 meters. Within this stretch, the equivalent ground velocity of the passing ISS image would be a quick 7.4 kilometers per second. However, with a standard camera, a small telescope, an exact location to set up his equipment, an exact direction to point the telescope, and sub-millisecond timing -- he created a video from which the featured 0.00035 second exposure was extracted. In the resulting image capture, details on both Mars and the ISS are visible simultaneously. The featured image was acquired last Monday at 05:15:47 local time from just northeast of San Diego, California, USA. Although typically much smaller, angularly, than the ISS, Mars is approaching its maximum angular size in the next few weeks, because the blue planet (Earth) is set to pass its closest to the red planet (Mars) in their respective orbits around the Sun.
(Excerpt) Read more at apod.nasa.gov ...
For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then zoom by moving the magnifying glass over an area and then clicking. The side bars will move the zoomed area over the photograph.
Pinging the APOD list
Spooky good work.
Aaahhhhhh!!!
It’s a Martian Battle Chicken!
Just when I start thinking it can’t get any more awe-inspiring .... :-)
Some months ago I was in Hawaii. (big island)
On a clear night looking up, it’s amazing what one can see.
I always thought the haze of the Milky Way was made up in movies when young. You can see it distinctly.
One can also see so many more stars than on the East Coast.
It makes it easy to dream and wonder.
Awesome pic. Thanks!
Jupiter is very bright in the south (in Sagittarius) at -2.41. (With minus magnitudes, the higher number is brighter--but they are almost the same brightness right now.) Saturn is also in Sagittarius right now to the east of Jupiter at magnitude 1.25 (comparable to one of the fainter first magnitude stars).
With the naked eye, I assure I can’t see in Philly what I see in Kona.
Where on the BI were you watching from? Even in the small town of Kailua Kona the light pollution drowns most of it out, along with frequent clouds.
Awesome skillz to get that shot.
In Kailua Kona on Hina Lani Street, but at around 1500’ elevation.
I live on The Jersey Shore. My backyard faces east. It’s eight miles from the Atlantic so I have no light pollution. On nights of the new moon I can see a fairly distinct of one of the spiral arms of the Milky Way.
I go to Avalon in the Summer. Are you around there?
You don’t mean Avon By The Sea do you or Avalon, that’s further south, by Margate?
Avalon, as in next to Stone Harbor, Wildwood, and Cape May.
No I live in Bricktown, Ocean County. Toms River is six miles south of me. Cape May is much farther down south of me. I work in Community Medical Center.
Gotcha. So you’re not too far away from Forked River Nuclear Power Plant.
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