The International Space Station Makes a Pass at the Moon in This Week’s Photos
- Posted on January 6, 2012 at 7:46pm by
Liz Klimas
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This has been quite the week for photographs of the International Space Station. Not inside the space station, but of it in its natural orbit around Earth with a stunning backdrop of the sun and Moon.
First, a French astrophotographer captured a stunning image of a partial solar eclipse with the International Space Station and the Moon silhouetted upon it (see below). Wired reports that Thierry Legualt only had 0.86 seconds to capture the shot on Tuesday before the space station would have crossed the sun at its 17,500 mph pace.
(Photo: Thierry Legualt )
In other amazing shots, on Wednesday evening, 240 miles away from the Moon at NASA’s Johnson Space Center Lauren Harnett was equipped with a regular Nikon D3S, 600mm lens and 2x converter. With that she was able to snap images of the International Space Station next to the Moon in amazing clarity.
(Photo: Lauren Harnett/NASA)
The Daily Mail has more on Harnett’s shots:
The picture, meanwhile, is very deceptive because the Moon is actually well over 200,000 miles beyond the Station, but they look here as if they might collide.
The photographer, Lauren Harnett, told MailOnline that she was lucky to see the Station. She said: “It’s amazing the amount of interest it has sparked, especially when it almost didn’t happen due to an overcast sky.”
Multiple images combined show the progress of the space station as it crossed the face of the moon. (Photo: Lauren Harnett/NASA via Spaceflight Now)
As Spaceflight Now points out, it may look like the space station has begun to orbit the Moon — it hasn’t. Spaceflight Now refers to the ISS as the “brightest man-made object in the night sky.”
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LarsCaution
Posted on January 8, 2012 at 5:35pmWe should be colonizing the Moon and Exploring space instead of fighting wars and amongst ourselves. I would love to see a change in the priorties of all the countries, we had the space race, now lets have a colonization or deep space race.
Report Post »chips1
Posted on January 8, 2012 at 7:41pmI’ve already posted “No Trespassing” signs. OWS people are not allowed!!!!
Report Post »LeeroyJenkins
Posted on January 8, 2012 at 9:19pmwe should be colonizing the moon with OWS!
Report Post »supressorgrid
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 10:05pmNeil Armstrong took his wife to the first fancy restaraunt on the Moon. After dinner he asked “Well dear what do you think?” She said The food was good but the place lacks atmosphere.
Report Post »punyhuman
Posted on January 9, 2012 at 12:39amHa ha ha, lacks atmosphere! Like living in a vacuum! good one!
Report Post »AgentP
Posted on January 9, 2012 at 7:05pmI, for one, am grateful to have this wit explained to me. Thank you, PunyHuman. I owe ya one!
Report Post »palerider54
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 8:26pmObama has sold us out again. Now we must pay our enemies for a ride to a space station we paid the majority of its cost.
I can hardly wait until the revolution starts and its legal to kill liberals.
Report Post »Carlito12
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 8:56pmTwo thumbs down for genocide.
Report Post »EdtheK
Posted on January 8, 2012 at 10:24amPale, that was actually really hateful.
Report Post »True it is sad we have decimated our manned space flight program, that is a massive mistake, but to call for killing or hurting others is simply unchristian.
Your Name Here
Posted on January 8, 2012 at 3:18pmJust send all of the liberals to the moon.
Report Post »Oh, did someone forget to tell them they’ll have to WORK to survive?
Too bad. Evolution in action.
LeeroyJenkins
Posted on January 8, 2012 at 9:20pmgenocide? you mean the same genocide they plot against us?
Report Post »Miyegombo Bayartsogt
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 5:16pmIn the old Star Trek TV show the cast referenced Scotland, Russia, Japan, Kenya, Germany and other countries but never in the series was United States of America ever mentioned. When asked by a citizen from US who reproached actor William Shatner of Star Trek asking why did you never have a character from America?” Shatner replies, “You must understand that Star Trek is set in the future.”
Report Post »LarsCaution
Posted on January 8, 2012 at 5:23pmThis has to be Fiction, Kirk was from Iowa. Either that or Iowa isnt in America!!!
Report Post »jeffshepard007
Posted on January 8, 2012 at 9:40pmLARSCAUTION, you are right, Captain James Tiberus Kirk was born and raised in IOWA. That is about as American as apple pie. Sulu was Japanese, but he said he was born in San Franssco in the movie series.
Report Post »But, I do get your point.
reddog75
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 4:17pmGreat pic, wish I was paying attention, would have tried to catch that myself, ohh well. However did catch a geosync satellite while shooting the Orion Nebula several weeks ago. http://www.flickr.com/photos/reddog1975/6437489641/in/photostream. You can see the two streaks a little towards the bottom right.
Report Post »Doctor Nordo
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 3:39pmA particle solar ellipse? Blaze, now I’m really starting to think that all of these ridiculous spelling errors are really just part of some big joke.
Report Post »TROONORTH
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 10:42am“Space. The final frontier . . . . . .” but not for Americans. Not since that dangerous fool in the White House surrendered the technological high ground to people who couldn’t launch a hot air balloon when Armstrong walked on the moon. That stupid, stupid man has abandoned America’s technological leadership, her achievements, her proud heritage as leader in space exploration, her hopes and her dreams and turned NASA into a ‘feel good programme’ for Muslims.
Once upon a time the mighty engines of the Saturn 5 made the ground jump as she lifted her crews to the moon. Yesterday the mighty engines of the Space Shuttle fleet could be heard around the world as they lifted their international crews into orbit. Today, Americans must go hat in hand to her enemies to beg for a ride to a space station built to a large extent, by American tax payers.
What a humiliating, embarrassing, debasing spectacle to see Americans begging to return to space like beaten dogs begging for scraps.
CHANGE YOBELIEVEELEIVE IN.
Report Post »Mary Just
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 12:44pmIt is just a crooked corrupt government with cowardly citizens. How else could you describe the election of Obama.
Report Post »coltcaps818
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 3:08pmhow do you delete your account
Report Post »ScottG-CO
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 6:51pmYes, yet another in the seemingly endless list of firsts for this guy-
First President to remove America from manned access to space (in 50 years)!
Report Post »DisasterFamilyDotCom
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 10:17amOCCUPY the MOON!
Report Post »http://RiotPlanner.com
Anna Fallaxis
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 8:57amVery nice, but are we still spending billions to take pictures of a big, dead rock? Your tax dollars literally launched into space. Spend it on national defense, our subs, carriers and equipment are on their last legs while our enemies are spending our oil and import money on arming themselves to the teeth.
Report Post »South Philly Boy
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 9:40amJust think of ALL the HIGHLY PRICED jobs it creates
Report Post »ScreaminEagle
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 10:31am@ Spend it on national defense, our subs, carriers and equipment are on their last legs while our enemies are spending our oil and import money on arming themselves to the teeth.
With the weapons we sell them. Thats nuts!
Report Post »beckwill
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 6:53amI love space. It’s breath taking vastness never ceases to amaze me. I’m over 40 years old and I still love to stare at the starry night sky.
Report Post »chips1
Posted on January 8, 2012 at 7:51pmOnly 40? Your a puppy. At 4:50am Friday, the moon was huge and Orange. It was to the west and almost at the horizon.
Report Post »Free2speakRN
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 5:41amWell Obama killed this, along with, because of him killing the space race, the US leading the overall technology race that made this nation its leader.
Oops! I said, race. Without Herman Cain around, it’s suddenly an issue again. I must be a space racist.
But, to be fair, Obama was right, in that the ‘space money’ should rightfully go to Islam to increase the Arab self-esteem. Iran will feel much better about itself when they get their nuclear ballistics. Then we can all sleep better knowing Obama is looking out for us. What an Obamination of a human being. Along with Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Castro, Chevez. All very dictorial in their psyche. Collectively stupid. Lunetics.
Report Post »lel2007
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 3:56amHow did Johnson Space Center and Lauren Harnett get 240 miles away from the Moon ?
Report Post »DisasterFamilyDotCom
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 10:16amI was wondering that myself. Maybe it was the particle solar ellipse.
Report Post »Slowman101
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 1:55amNo Obama 2012!!
Report Post »RightThinking1
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 12:11amWait…, THAT doesn’t look like green cheese to me. Obviously it is a fake photo.
Report Post »HYPNOTOAD
Posted on January 7, 2012 at 12:00amThe shot in front of the sun looks like a tie fighter from Star Wars. Maybe the movie was real after all.
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 11:51pmcool pics of our last foothold in space, thanks obama
Report Post »Tracy Y. Andersen
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 11:42pmUh, hate to be a spell-checker, but two in one phrase… well…. “… particle solar ellipse…“ I think they meant ”…PARTIAL solar ECLIPSE…” Their spell-checker has fits, it seems. I have had similar problems at times. Oh, this technical world we live in.
To the point, the pictures are stunning, and particularly I am impressed by the series of shots of the ISS passing the moon. How do you stabilize on the moon, and snap the shots in a timed sequence? A good, stable base mount, and one tracking the moon, as well. Otherwise, the moon would be slightly blurred. The implications of these pictures makes me appreciate the technology we have to work with now.
Except spell-checkers, that is….
Report Post »ThePostman
Posted on January 8, 2012 at 9:22amModern telescope mounts have software that tracks a fixed or moving point in space, so one can command the telescope (or camera) to track the moon, all it needs is the correct time and date, and software runs azimuth and elevation motors on the mount to tracks the desired object. It accounts for the moon‘s motion as well as the earth’s rotation.
What this software cannot do is fix the presidency. We still have a moron in the whitehouse who has basically destroyed the space program without even cutting the funding, and he has now turned his sights to destroying our military. Believe me, I have witnessed this first-hand. Obama increased NASA’s funding, but sent it on a useless uninspiring mission. After a decade or two of them looking like morons, Americans will decide NASA needs to be dropped. Mission Accomplished. Same story for the military – Obama cancelled the F-22 in favor of the F-35, but these two planes cannot do the role of the other – we now have a gaping hole in our defense, and will likely get our butts whooped when the Chinese come to be repaid for all this debt we owe them, which we cannot pay. Obama has managed to accomplish this while increasing defense spending…. Amazing. Socialists are very very sneaky.
Report Post »Pontiac
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 11:26pm[587x649]
Wow. I can almost make out…dots.
Seeing as how The Blaze is stuck in 1997, here is a better way to obtain some more relevant images.
Report Post »http://tinyurl.com/6o2hvx8
swoods08
Posted on January 6, 2012 at 11:02pmWhoa coool! Space… the final frontier?
Report Post »