Watch the Space Station Zip Across the Sun: Incredible New Views from Thierry Legault

By Nancy Atkinson - October 6, 2014 at 9:37 AM UTC | Solar Astronomy
ISS_ATV5_transit_stack.jpg

Take a look at the incredible detail in the latest work from astrophotographer extraordinaire

Thierry Legault

. He captured images of the International Space Station transiting in front of the Sun in September 2014, and visible in the images are several of the visiting docked spacecraft (at one point in September there were

5 ships parked at the Station

). Clearly visible are the ATV-5 'Georges Lemaitre,' the Soyuz 39 and the Progress 56.

Wow!

Keep in mind, an ISS transit lasts less than a second (.7 seconds to be exact -- and is shown in real time in the video above) and capturing the event in images must be timed with ultimate precision. Legault has captured a detailed night passage of the ISS, as well. See images below.

Legault used his Celestron C14 EdgeHD to capture these images, and for the solar transit of ISS, he used both both H-alpha and white light filters.

In a

previous Universe Today article,

Legault explained how he studies maps, and will travel thousands of kilometers to be in the right place to capture such a transit. He uses a radio synchronized watch to know very accurately when the transit event will happen.

His camera has a continuous shuttering for 4 seconds, and he begins the imaging sequence 2 seconds before the calculated time.

"For transits I have to calculate the place, and considering the width of the visibility path is usually between 5-10 kilometers, but I have to be close to the center of this path," Legault explained, "because if I am at the edge, it is just like a solar eclipse where the transit is shorter and shorter. And the edge of visibility line of the transit lasts very short. So the precision of where I have to be is within one kilometer."

[caption id="attachment_115037" align="aligncenter" width="580"]

Solar transit of the International Space Station with the ATV-5 'Georges Lemaitre' docked, in September 2014. Credit and copyright: Thierry Legault.[/caption]

See more images and information at Thierry's website

, and we thank him for sharing his work with Universe Today.

[caption id="attachment_115039" align="aligncenter" width="580"]

Detailed imagery of the International Space Station captured from the ground. Credit and copyright: Thierry Legault.[/caption]

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com