Photographer Captures Amazing Images of International Space Station Crossing Moon and Sun

Photo credit: Andrew McCarthy
Astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy from Sacramento, California managed to capture two amazing images of the International Space Station crossing the Moon and Sun from his backyard as well as some other local areas. For those who don’t know, the space station orbits Earth approximately every 90-minutes, or in other words, each 24-hours, it comes into view about 16-times. With that said, it’s still quite tricky to get the perfect weather conditions to capture clear images of the ISS. Read more for additional pictures and information.

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It doesn't get much cooler than this. Yesterday morning after spending hours scouting for the right location, I set up my gear on the side of a road hoping to capture something I've never seen before. The iss, illuminated by daylight, transiting a razor-thin crescent moon. Something about the way the illuminated ISS straddles the crescent gives it a sense of depth lacking in my previous transit shots. This was captured by recording high framerate video during the pass, and stitching together a full mosaic of the moon after the pass was completed, which was then blended with shots captured before the sun rose to get the "Earthshine" you see on the dark side of the moon. A print of a partial crop of this will be available in my main gallery, and digital downloads if you'd like to print this yourself. Check the link in my bio. If you would like to learn how to take these shots yourself, a full write up of how I captured this shot will be shared to my patreon later today.

A post shared by Andrew McCarthy (@cosmic_background) on Oct 15, 2020 at 8:15am PDT

To capture the Moon image above, he spent hours scouting for a good location, and decided to set up his gear (two telescopes) on the side of a road. Shortly after, he spotted the ISS, illuminated by daylight, transiting the crescent moon. It was captured using high framerate video during the pass, and then stitching together a full mosaic of the moon once the pass was completed.

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On Tuesday, for less than a second, the sun aligned with the @iss and my backyard. This shot was captured simultaneously with two scopes, one with a white light filter for ISS details and one with a hydrogen-alpha solar telescope for surface details. By blending the images together I get a crisp, detailed snapshot of the transit. If you swipe to the last image, I inverted and enhanced contrast on the ISS's silhouette to show the orientation and details visible on the craft. If you'd like a print, check the link in my bio for my main gallery. I will also be adding to my patreon instructions for how to capture this yourself, so be sure to sign up if you'd like to know!

A post shared by Andrew McCarthy (@cosmic_background) on Oct 9, 2020 at 8:38am PDT