Earlier today Europe, Asia, and Africa got to see a nice partial solar eclipse as the Moon passed in front of the Sun, blocking as much as 85% of the solar surface. The extraordinarily talented astrophotographer Thierry Legault traveled from his native France to the Sultanate of Oman to take pictures of the eclipse. Why there, of all places? Heh heh heh. It’ll be more clear when you see this ridiculously awesome picture he took:
Holy solar transits! Click to embiggen, which you really really should do.
Can you see why he traveled so far to get this shot? The silhouette of the Moon taking a dark bite out of the Sun is obvious enough, as are some interesting sunspots on the Sun’s face… but wait a sec… that one spot isn’t a spot at all, it’s the International Space Station! This was a double eclipse!
That’s why Thierry sojourned to Oman; due to the geometry of the ISS orbit, it was from there that he had the best chance of getting a picture of the station as it passed in front of the Sun during the relatively brief duration of the actual solar eclipse. But talk about brief; the ISS was in front of the Sun for less than second, so not only did he have one chance at getting this spectacular once-in-a-lifetime shot, but he had only a fraction of a second to snap it!
To give you an overall idea of what you’re seeing here: the Sun is 147 million kilometers away (less than usual because this eclipse happened, coincidentally, very close to perihelion, when Earth was closest to the Sun). The Moon is 390,000 kilometers away. The Sun is about 400 times bigger than the Moon, but also about 400 times farther away, making them look about the same size in the sky. If you’re still having a hard time picturing the scale, take a look at the dark sunspot in the lower right of the big picture: it’s about twice the size of the Earth!
The space station, on the other hand, is 100 meters across (the size of a football field) and orbits about 350 km (210 miles) above the Earth’s surface. So the Moon was very roughly 1000 times farther away than the ISS when this picture was taken, and the Sun 400,000 times more distant. Yet all three lined up just right to make this extraordinary photograph possible.
Thierry has taken some of the most amazing pictures of the station passing in front of the Sun and Moon I’ve ever seen — his shot of the ISS and the Moon shortly before last week’s lunar eclipse was beautiful — but this one really stands out. It took an extraordinary amount of planning, scheduling, travel, and plain old good thinking to make this picture happen. Congratulations to him for getting it, and I thank him for sending it to me!
[More eclipse pictures can be found linked from Stuart's Astronomy Blog as well as on the BBC's Sky at Night Flickr pool of pictures.]
Related posts:
- When natural and artificial moons align
- ISS, Shuttle transit the Sun
- Check. This. Out. Amazing photo of the Sun!
- Shuttle and ISS transit the Sun
January 4th, 2011 at 10:51 am
That is an amazing picture. Now all they need is to find when you can also get the space shuttle (at the same time as these others) in the background and then I can die in peace.
January 4th, 2011 at 10:56 am
Phil, can we assume that that sunspot is an unresolved double? They do have to occur in pairs, don’t they?
January 4th, 2011 at 11:01 am
Now that’s what science can do. Let’s see a psychic try to predict that!
January 4th, 2011 at 11:06 am
Thats amazing, can’t wait for discovery to get back to where it belongs(space) and see would look like and perhaps even an astronaut albeit probably just a pixel in size.
January 4th, 2011 at 11:17 am
@Chris: A psychic would probably be too busy trying to emotionally heal Thierry Legault so that this awesome picture could be taken.
January 4th, 2011 at 11:20 am
[...] January 4, 2011 by kathe via blogs.discovermagazine.com [...]
January 4th, 2011 at 11:21 am
I assume that this will be hard to bump out of the “best 10 of 2011″. (Or will it be the best 11…)
January 4th, 2011 at 11:22 am
I hope that Thierry Legault gets paid for all these photos, or has some other source of income. He sure seems to travel the world a lot to get these amazing images.
(Okay, jealousy mode off.)
January 4th, 2011 at 11:23 am
Craig:
And what would have happened had this eclipse been a few days earlier?
January 4th, 2011 at 11:26 am
Thierry could save a bundle on airfare if he’d just pick up a copy of Photoshop.
January 4th, 2011 at 11:26 am
Amazing. =) Thanks for sharing Phil.
January 4th, 2011 at 11:29 am
Luke: “He’s heading for that small moon…”
Obi Wan: “That’s no moon, it’s a space station.”
How come nobody told me we were building TIE Fighters?
January 4th, 2011 at 11:30 am
That’s an immense picture of the ISS – the other shot is just as ridiculous. VERY well done
January 4th, 2011 at 11:31 am
That’s no moon. It’s a space station!
Oh wait, it’s a moon.
But that’s no sunspot. It’s a space station!
January 4th, 2011 at 11:33 am
Awesome ^^
January 4th, 2011 at 11:33 am
This is stunning.
January 4th, 2011 at 11:45 am
You’re not fooling me. That’s a TIE fighter. I expect you’ll deny that Mr. WorksfortheMan Astronomer, but it won’t fly.
January 4th, 2011 at 11:49 am
@Ray
That’s exactly what I thought when I saw it.
Cue “and that’s no moon” in 5… 4… 3…
January 4th, 2011 at 11:50 am
Meanwhile, back in the UK I could barely see my hand in front of my face due to the thick dark grim grey clouds obscuring the sunrise. Great.
Because the eclipse had started just before the sun rose, and I live by the sea, and the sun would have risen out of the sea as the eclipse was happening, it would have been one of the most fabulous sunrises I could have seen in my life. I guess I should have made a sojourn to Oman.
Anyway, thanks Thierry; you da Badass ‘tronomer, fer sure
January 4th, 2011 at 11:54 am
[...] Increíble fotografía del eclipse, ¡y de la Estación Espacial Internacional! blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/01/04/insane… por faracowski hace 2 segundos [...]
January 4th, 2011 at 11:58 am
Awesome! I, too, thought it was a TIE fighter at first.
January 4th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
Pardon me while I hinge my jaw back on. That’ll probably take a few minutes…
January 4th, 2011 at 12:10 pm
I for one am just relieved that the lining-up of the earth, moon, ISS and sun didn’t result in the end of the world (as we know it).
January 4th, 2011 at 12:19 pm
Wait a minute – how did Canada manage to imprint an image of their flag on the sun?!?
That’s amazing!
Does this mean Canada officially owns the sun now?
January 4th, 2011 at 12:21 pm
Holy.
Crap.
Double eclipse…..WHAT DOES IT MEAN!?! wooooo….
January 4th, 2011 at 12:26 pm
@21. Dennis
Are you sure it’s not the flag of Spain?
(http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/11/30/you-cant-own-the-sun-no-not-yours/)
January 4th, 2011 at 12:35 pm
A fighter of that size couldn’t get that deep on it’s own, it must have been a part of a convoy or something . . . Look at him he’s heading for that small moon . . .
January 4th, 2011 at 12:40 pm
[...] fate ancora qui? Andate a vedere questa splendida foto. window.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init({appId: "142782145754108", status: true, cookie: true, [...]
January 4th, 2011 at 12:43 pm
Maaan…Thierry is just sickening
Truly Amazing pic ! *Chappeau*
And I thought I might impress the crowd by bringing THIS ONE to your attention:
http://www.astrostation.at/ikreator/ast/cms_pub/file_00001187/20110104%20004%20web.jpg
….but I guess I wont
Greetings from germany
January 4th, 2011 at 12:46 pm
am kinda curious how astronomers identify dark spots from some other super imposed space object. am guessing may be they have different tools to study like x-ray analysis nevertheless curious how exactly.
January 4th, 2011 at 1:00 pm
That spacestation looks way to big for its altitude relative to the magnification.
January 4th, 2011 at 1:11 pm
Dennis:
Nope. Angeles Duran owns it.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/11/30/you-cant-own-the-sun-no-not-yours/
January 4th, 2011 at 1:13 pm
[...] [...]
January 4th, 2011 at 1:14 pm
So, any time in the next million or so years that a solar eclipse will occur during a transit of Mercury of Venus?
January 4th, 2011 at 1:17 pm
i believe it is the hubble space telescope not the space station. The body is to small. great shot, i wish i could do that.
January 4th, 2011 at 1:29 pm
Thierry Legault.
The best thing from France since….well ever.
January 4th, 2011 at 1:41 pm
Best thing from France is Daft Punk, then it’s Thierry Legault.
x]
January 4th, 2011 at 1:47 pm
Man, this guy has got to be the very best astrophotog in the world. His pix are never less than beautiful and startling.
January 4th, 2011 at 1:53 pm
I am out of adjectives to describe this picture! Holy Moly!
On the other hand, I was quite upset with all the clouds between me and the moon this morning in Germany. Especially, since other parts of the sky were clear, but where the sun and the moon were hanging around it had to be overcast. At least, I had a few brief moments in which I could take a look at it. And even that was awesome.
I wonder how many people missed this event….
January 4th, 2011 at 2:02 pm
Is that a Tie Fighter!
January 4th, 2011 at 2:03 pm
That’s no ISS. It is an Imperial Tie-Fighter.
January 4th, 2011 at 2:04 pm
Wow the ISS has been doing a lot of photobombing lately…
January 4th, 2011 at 2:11 pm
Looks like the Canada flag to me .. are you sure it ain’t one of them crazy Canucks pulling a stunt/practical joke on him ?
Great pic
January 4th, 2011 at 2:35 pm
Is that an X-Wing fighter?
January 4th, 2011 at 2:45 pm
[...] http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/01/04/insanely-awesome-solar-eclipse-picture/ [...]
January 4th, 2011 at 3:11 pm
I think I just had an astrophotogasm. I need to find Mr. Legault so I can have a cigarette with him
January 4th, 2011 at 3:20 pm
Using “pixelstick” to measure off the screen, and the sun’s angular size at perihelion of 32.53 arc minutes, the ISS’s angular size from the mid-point of the left solar array to the mid-point of the right solar array is ~0.147 mrad. Assuming the line between the arrays is perpendicular to the view, and that the actual distance thereof is 80m, the distance to the ISS from the camera is ~546 km. Since the altitude of the ISS is between 347 and 360 km, it would have to be very far off the zenith to reach 546 km. But this eclipse was at around noon local time in Oman, which is almost tropical, so I would expect it to be within ~30 degrees of zenith.
I guess the discrepancy is due to any foreshortening of the ISS axis I used for the measurement – i.e., if it’s not actually perpendicular to the view, the effective length is less than 80 m. If it’s, say, 60m, one gets a distance of 410 km, which sounds plausible…
January 4th, 2011 at 3:44 pm
Depth of field shots are always good. There’s one out there with Pluto and a distant galaxy,
January 4th, 2011 at 3:45 pm
Seen a lot of these breath-taking Thierry Legault ISS transit images over the years here – & I’ll never tire of it. Astonishing still & he’s managed to top himself with this one. Eclipse, Sun, Moon, space station / TIE fighter. Yep, I’d say this was his best yet.
Baffled at how anything here resembles the Canadian flag – a distinctive red on white maple leaf design versus yellow Sun with a partial Lunar bite out of it, a sunspot or two and the International Space Station – though.
January 4th, 2011 at 4:00 pm
@ 30 VS
“am kinda curious how astronomers identify dark spots from some other super imposed space object. am guessing may be they have different tools to study like x-ray analysis nevertheless curious how exactly.”
There are a few easy ways.
Firstly, just watch the spot. A sunspot is on the surface of the Sun, so the spot will rotate with the surface of the Sun. If it was an object in between the Earth and the Sun, then it will move at a vastly different rate. For instance, while the sun takes about 25-30 days to rotate once, that space station was there for less than one second. It zips right by.
Another way is to watch many spots and learn how they look. There are a few broad categories of sunspots, and they have very similar characteristics, such as a dark center with little dots around it. If this were a planet, then the spot would be perfectly round and uniformly dark.
January 4th, 2011 at 4:01 pm
Right now, I’m on an old PowerBook with, frankly, a little bit smallish screen. So, I could only see the top half of the photo first.
“Yawn”, thought I, “ISS on top of Sun. I’ve seen this before.”
Page down.
“HOLY S%&!!!!”
January 4th, 2011 at 4:08 pm
Pic link fix:
http://legault.perso.sfr.fr/eclipse110104_solar_transit.html
January 4th, 2011 at 4:12 pm
Unbelievable – there are people inside that thing!
January 4th, 2011 at 4:15 pm
A work of art indeed.
January 4th, 2011 at 4:22 pm
[...] to go to Oman in order to capture the Moon and the ISS in the same frame—an amazing feat. [Bad Astronomy] Categories: Science Tags: astronomy, earth, eclipse, iss, space, space station, sun Back to [...]
January 4th, 2011 at 4:30 pm
sorry – I can’t but wonder if this is a farce. It would be a shame if falsified wth photo shop. if not, really really awesome.
January 4th, 2011 at 4:35 pm
pnschi #47: It’s not far past northern hemisphere mid-winter now so the Sun’s pretty much on the Tropic of Capricorn. Oman is just north of the Tropic of Cancer so that’s 46° off the zenith for starters. Any time before or after local noon will add more angle.
January 4th, 2011 at 4:37 pm
[...] of the Sun with the Moon and the International Space Station passing in front of it.Via Gizmodo and Bad Astronomy.Related postsPhoto of Moon and ISSNASA will send a craft to the sunMr. Sun and the SithPhoto [...]
January 4th, 2011 at 4:59 pm
Holy crap it’s a Tie Fighter!
January 4th, 2011 at 5:00 pm
Looks a bit like Pac-Man.
January 4th, 2011 at 5:09 pm
Amazing!
January 4th, 2011 at 5:11 pm
By similar triangles, the width of the projected image blocked by the space station would be in the same proportion to the distance from the earth to the sun as the width of the space station is to the height of its orbit. This means that the project blocked image would have a width given by:
147,000,000 * 100/350 = 42,000,000 meters. The sun has a diameter of 1.39 million kilometers, or 1390 million meters, which means the projected blocked image sould be 42/1390 of the diameter of the sun or about 3% of the diameter of the sun. Measurement of the photo is consistent with this. I started out thinking this would be way off and prove it was a digitally manipulated image, but in fact, the numbers work.
J
January 4th, 2011 at 5:14 pm
[...] the top is something that looks like a TIE fighter. That is the International Space Station (ISS)! The Bad Astronomer explains how rare this picture is: That’s why Thierry sojourned to Oman; due to the geometry of [...]
January 4th, 2011 at 5:16 pm
Is this a still photo or a frame from a video? It would seem to me that to travel all that way and hope to time a shot down to a second or less would be silly – better to use a video to record the event and pull out the good stuff.
Just sayin’.
January 4th, 2011 at 5:23 pm
[...] INSANELY awesome solar eclipse picture | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine [...]
January 4th, 2011 at 5:31 pm
Phil, the “click to embigmagnificate” link is down.
January 4th, 2011 at 5:32 pm
wow.. possible? have to check the orbit once more..
January 4th, 2011 at 5:44 pm
The first thing my wife said was that it looks like the Canadian flag!
January 4th, 2011 at 6:29 pm
I like!
January 4th, 2011 at 6:31 pm
All i can say is WOW!!!
January 4th, 2011 at 6:35 pm
So, maybe I’m not getting it… If the sunspot is twice the size of the Earth, how does the ISS cast just as large a shadow? Also, I can see the moon blocking out a portion of the sun, but what is casting the shadow of the ISS if the shadow appears on the sun? I guess I need further explanation…
January 4th, 2011 at 6:50 pm
[...] International Space Station superimposed over the Sun during the double eclipse. And as a Star Wars-ey bonus, it looks just like a TIE fighter. [...]
January 4th, 2011 at 7:45 pm
@ 48. QuietDesperation :
Were you thinking of this one :
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2010/09/20/pluto-wanders-into-a-messier-situation/
Of Pluto crossing a rich star cluster Messier 24 with dark nebulae Barnard 92 and 93 by any chance? Or a different one given that’s a star cluster and dark clouds ratheer than a galaxy? But that’s the only one that comes to mind for me. If it *was* a galaxy can you recall which galaxy or even just which type of galaxy it was, please?
January 4th, 2011 at 7:46 pm
And to think it’s all happening in a studio in LA
January 4th, 2011 at 7:52 pm
If you stare at this image of the ISS for 20 seconds, and look away and blink, you see the Canadian flag…
January 4th, 2011 at 8:40 pm
[...] may be the last person to aggregate this, but if you haven’t seen it yet, consider: The Sun being eclipsed simultaneously by the Moon…and the ISS! Thanks to Bill Higgins for pointing it out. (Talk about having to set up a [...]
January 4th, 2011 at 8:50 pm
http://ofpink.wordpress.com/2009/07/29/space-shuttle-and-iss-on-the-sun/
January 4th, 2011 at 9:07 pm
IT’S A TIE FIGHTER!!
January 4th, 2011 at 9:25 pm
[...] including the transit of not only the moon but the international space station (ISS) got to Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy blog. Otherwise just click to enlarge and enjoy the awesome [...]
January 4th, 2011 at 9:48 pm
[...] by Discover: [...]
January 4th, 2011 at 10:24 pm
[...] Such a tiny speck of metal and glass. Legault had to go to Oman in order to capture the Moon and the ISS in the same frame—an amazing feat. [Bad Astronomy] [...]
January 4th, 2011 at 10:32 pm
On the hi-res version I see a little tiny Maple Leaf flag, too, albeit not in the right colour scheme.
And I’m Canadian. So there.
January 4th, 2011 at 11:08 pm
[...] an astronomy-amazing geekasm – I love those! Earlier today Europe, Asia, and Africa got to see a nice partial solar eclipse as the Moon passed in…The extraordinarily talented astrophotographer Thierry Legault traveled from his native France to [...]
January 4th, 2011 at 11:21 pm
[...] Thierry Legault为了捕捉日食中的国际空间站剪影，不得不跑去阿曼去记录这一难得的瞬间。[Bad Astronomy] 分享至: 标签: 同看: ISS/International Space Station/国际空间站, 日食 SoundHound 音乐识别软件 [...]
January 4th, 2011 at 11:49 pm
@Sammy, the sunspot is on the Sun, about a million times further away than the ISS. The ISS isn’t casting a shadow on the Sun, it’s appearing in silhouette (casting a shadow on the Earth) – just as the Moon is.
January 5th, 2011 at 12:30 am
[...] By ISS During Yesterday's Partial Solar Eclipse Source: INSANELY awesome solar eclipse picture | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine Reply With Quote Subscribe to this Thread… + Reply to [...]
January 5th, 2011 at 12:39 am
[...] by chris on January 5, 2011 Source: INSANELY awesome solar eclipse picture | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine [...]
January 5th, 2011 at 1:49 am
Am I the only one that sees a TIE Fighter and not a space station?
January 5th, 2011 at 1:49 am
It is a very beautiful photo!!
January 5th, 2011 at 1:53 am
[...] INSANELY awesome solar eclipse picture [discover] [...]
January 5th, 2011 at 2:41 am
[...] INSANELY awesome solar eclipse picture (via Martin) [...]
January 5th, 2011 at 3:22 am
And right between the ISS and the sun spot, I can see Hawaii passing by.
Talk about coincidence!
January 5th, 2011 at 5:01 am
It’s just an upside-down PacMan, anyone can see that!
January 5th, 2011 at 5:03 am
Yes, it’s a TIE Fighter!
January 5th, 2011 at 5:05 am
Good to know that the astronauts on the ISS could see the eclipse as well
January 5th, 2011 at 5:29 am
[...] [...]
January 5th, 2011 at 5:46 am
, albeit not in the right colour scheme.
And I’m Canadian. So there.
January 5th, 2011 at 6:51 am
(In my best Doctor/Matt Smith voice)
Pictures of ISS transiting the Sun are cool…
January 5th, 2011 at 7:04 am
[...] http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/01/04/insanely-awesome-solar-eclipse-picture/ [...]
January 5th, 2011 at 7:18 am
[...] Bad Astronomy which looks, on first inspection, to be rather [...]
January 5th, 2011 at 7:41 am
I stand corrected, the solar array gives it away.
January 5th, 2011 at 7:56 am
This is NOT the ISS, this is a Tie Fighter!
January 5th, 2011 at 8:01 am
Timing…
Für dieses geniale Foto von Mond und Raumstation ISS vor der Sonne mußte der Fotograf von Frankreich nach Oman reisen. Und hatte weniger als eine Sekunde Zeit, den Moment festzuhalten. …
January 5th, 2011 at 8:09 am
@71 It’s not the shadow of the ISS, it [i]is[/i] the ISS. The space station is physically passing in front of the sun from our perspective and blocking its light to the camera, same as the moon is doing. The (extremely tiny) shadow of the ISS is on Earth, not the Sun. Check the diagram in the wiki of solar eclipse and imagine the ISS orbiting inside the circle of the moon, casting a similar little shadow just next to the dark shadow of the moon. That’s exactly what’s happening in the picture.
January 5th, 2011 at 8:18 am
@ 2. magista Says:
January 4th, 2011 at 10:56 am
Phil, can we assume that that sunspot is an unresolved double? They do have to occur in pairs, don’t they?
I think you are correct in this, the corresponding sunspot would appear on the opposite side of the sun and in the northern hemisphere at a corresponding latitude.
January 5th, 2011 at 9:13 am
[...] via | via [...]
January 5th, 2011 at 10:16 am
[...] mit einer relativ winzigen ISS davor. Vom begnadeten Astrofotografen Thierry Legault. (via badastronomy) (pic in [...]
January 5th, 2011 at 11:14 am
[...] INSANELY awesome solar eclipse picture | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine mit RAUMSTATION ISS>&g… [...]
January 5th, 2011 at 11:20 am
Thierry Legault iss the king of the spheres.
January 5th, 2011 at 11:20 am
Thierry Legault FTW! nice photo. keep ‘em coming!
January 5th, 2011 at 11:28 am
[...] to take photos like a mind-boggling shot of the ISS in front of the sun during a solar eclipse (check it here). But there is help at hand at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center on Friday, during its weekly [...]
January 5th, 2011 at 11:55 am
[...] eclipse photo Impressive picture: INSANELY awesome solar eclipse picture | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine Partial eclipse and the space station doing a sun transit at the same time. Photos on Flickr [...]
January 5th, 2011 at 12:54 pm
[...] this photo is simply awesome. The silhouette of the Moon taking a dark bite out of the Sun is obvious enough, [...]
January 5th, 2011 at 1:31 pm
Was any kind of filter used?
January 5th, 2011 at 1:32 pm
Silly bugger had his thumb over the lens.
;^)
January 5th, 2011 at 1:43 pm
I wonder. Sun’s angular diameter is 0.5 degree. So, if the station crosses it in 1 second, it will make 360 degrees in 720 seconds.
Can’t believe it’s orbital period is just 12 minutes. Where am I wrong?
January 5th, 2011 at 1:53 pm
[...] Ranskalainen astronomi Thierry Legault matkusti Omaniin ottaakseen kuvan, joka vaati sekunnin murto-osan ajoitusta. Tupla auringonpimennys. Kuvaa kun zoomaa, näkyy ISS avaruusasema. Tämmöisen valokuvan ottaminen vaatii jo sitten vähän normaalia enemmän työtä. Ei voi muuta kuin nostaa hattua äärimmäisen tarkasta ja hyvin suoritetusta tehtävästä. Lähde [...]
January 5th, 2011 at 2:02 pm
are tie fighters made in canada then ?
January 5th, 2011 at 2:25 pm
Realmente muito inprecionante
January 5th, 2011 at 2:30 pm
Brian Cox just showed this picture on BBC2′s Stargazing Live show tonight.
January 5th, 2011 at 2:35 pm
Spactacular! Just to think that in 1960 JFK talked about hitting a bullet with a bullet when describing the problem of an ABM intercepting an ICBM. This guy has essentially done just that photographically. Congratulations for the high end thinking.
January 5th, 2011 at 2:40 pm
That is just plain awesome!
January 5th, 2011 at 3:12 pm
Does anyone else think that looks like aTIE fighter from star wars?
January 5th, 2011 at 4:22 pm
Everyone knows it was really a Tie Fighter. Just ask Assange.
January 5th, 2011 at 6:09 pm
[...] more here: INSANELY awesome solar eclipse picture – via Discover [...]
January 5th, 2011 at 6:55 pm
Moon and Space Station Eclipse the Sun | Discover…
Insanely awesome solar eclipse picture…
January 5th, 2011 at 7:22 pm
[...] Star Wars blog points out that an awesome photo of the solar eclipse taken by French astrophotographer Thierry Legault reveals a hidden TIE [...]
January 5th, 2011 at 8:42 pm
Thats no moon.
January 5th, 2011 at 9:47 pm
Damn, I was hoping it was a Tie Fighter!
January 5th, 2011 at 10:14 pm
[...] INSANELY awesome solar eclipse picture | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine Can you see why he traveled so far to get this shot? The silhouette of the Moon taking a dark bite out of the Sun is obvious enough, as are some interesting sunspots on the Sun’s face… but wait a sec… that one spot isn’t a spot at all, it’s the International Space Station! This was a double eclipse! (tags: awesome eclipse solar insanely picture) [...]
January 5th, 2011 at 10:29 pm
i saw it and thought TIE fighter, as I see others have done. I love when reality models science fiction design, even unintentionally.
January 6th, 2011 at 12:02 am
[...] Discover Categories: General Tags: Comentarios (0) Referencias (0) Dejar un comentario [...]
January 6th, 2011 at 2:40 am
To have the commitment, astronomical foresight, mathematical ability, photographic skill, (and financial resources) necessary to transport oneself into the right geographical location at the right time, with the right equipment, set in advance at the right settings, in order — at the right moment — to snap a view that lasts less than a second — Wow!
January 6th, 2011 at 3:18 am
This pic is made of Awesome!
I first saw it last night on Stargazing Live, a BBC programme presented by Brian Cox and Dara O Briain. Favourite line from this sequence of programmes: “. . . and, for the sake of balance, we should mention that astrology is a load of rubbish” (from a previous transmission, not from last night’s).
January 6th, 2011 at 3:36 am
[...] Check out this story about distances and proportions: That’s why Thierry sojourned to Oman; due to the geometry of the ISS orbit, it was from there that he had the best chance of getting a picture of the station as it passed in front of the Sun during the relatively brief duration of the actual solar eclipse. But talk about brief; the ISS was in front of the Sun for less than second, so not only did he have one chance at getting this spectacular once-in-a-lifetime shot, but he had only a fraction of a second to snap it! [...]
January 6th, 2011 at 4:01 am
[...] I’ve got a bet going with this little orphan, Annie. THAT BOTTOM DOLLAR’S MINE, GINGER! INSANELY awesome solar eclipse picture [discover] Thanks to Roger, who once viewed Uranus through a telescope but was so disappointed he [...]
January 6th, 2011 at 4:37 am
here’s another nice picture for you, of the moon and the sun and a plane:
http://www.astrosnake.com/Gallery%20pages/Eclipses/Solar%20Eclipses.htm
ok, a plane is not on the same class of coolness as the ISS, but it’s still something.
January 6th, 2011 at 5:22 am
surprise
January 6th, 2011 at 5:28 am
x-wing
January 6th, 2011 at 5:30 am
[...] Bad Astronomy, this photo by Thierry Legault is the sun, eclipsed by the Earth, eclipsed by an Imperial TIE [...]
January 6th, 2011 at 6:23 am
mental picture,seriously good planning.
January 6th, 2011 at 7:38 am
[...] you might say. Well, look at all of those “sunspots” just a bit closer. Do you see it? If not, go to the article at Bad Astronomy and look at a selected blow up of the [...]
January 6th, 2011 at 9:35 am
Absolutely phenomenal. One of the countless inspirations that makes us adore photography!
January 6th, 2011 at 9:38 am
thats the canada flag .
January 6th, 2011 at 9:49 am
Phil, the curve of the moon’s silhouette is not very smooth.
Is that just the sun bleeding past the moon’s edge, or are we actually seeing the geography of the moon there?
January 6th, 2011 at 11:14 am
[...] Round-up of Space Science Performed in 2010 Titan May Be Capable of Creating DNA Awesome Solar Eclipse Picture (with bonus ISS) Mars Rovers Celebrate 7 Years on the Red Planet Odd fact about why the shuttle’s solid rocket boosters are the size they are Solar System [...]
January 6th, 2011 at 12:47 pm
I see your schwartz is as big as mine.
January 6th, 2011 at 2:28 pm
what about this, with a plane passing in front of the eclipsed sun
http://media.skyandtelescope.com/images/Parcial+Solar+Eclipse+04.01.2011.jpg
It’s from Romania, near Bucharest. In an interview, the guy said that he took the picture on the emergency lane of the highway A2. Even the highway police stopped to tell the to go away because it was a dangerous place to take photos.
Completely nuts!
January 6th, 2011 at 4:08 pm
It’s a very good picture of the Sun, shame that the moon and that space station got in the way though. What are the chances of that, huh? Oh well, beginners mistake.
lol j/k
I think these pics are very cool. I love to see the heavens in motion all together in one frame like this… including the parts that we have made and sent up there.
January 6th, 2011 at 4:21 pm
I’m sure it’s Will Robinson, Dr. Smith and the Robot.
January 6th, 2011 at 6:14 pm
@#145 Matt: I had a similar question about another eclipse photo a few months ago. Yes, that really is the topography of the moon you’re seeing. Cool, eh?
January 6th, 2011 at 8:04 pm
[...] Thierry Legault为了捕捉日食中的国际空间站剪影，不得不跑去阿曼去记录这一难得的瞬间。[Bad Astronomy] [...]
January 6th, 2011 at 10:25 pm
Great pic.. so much discussion around it.. but what’s the use of this pic?
January 7th, 2011 at 6:11 am
[...] Oui, l’ISS, c’est ce petit truc en haut. Legault est allé à Oman pour prendre cette photo où on peut voir la Lune, l’ISS et le soleil dans le même cadrage. Etonnant et superbe.[Bad Astronomy] [...]
January 7th, 2011 at 6:15 am
@ ^ Ketan : What’s the use of a new born baby?
How about because it is an intrinsically beautiful and enjoyable and clever shot?
January 7th, 2011 at 7:09 am
[...] Foto jos – vezi si detaliu: Thierry Legault – DiscoverMagazine [...]
January 7th, 2011 at 7:19 am
Hmm.. makes sense.. if you think by heart! I was just wondering if its really worth taking these many efforts just to capture three objects coming in line.. i mean.. a simple photoshop trick would have done exactly the same job in minutes. But its all about the feeling i guess.. And if it really happened within a fraction of second as claimed here, then its worth a praise..
(I am sorry.. but my brain is not able to conceive how a space station can cross the sun we see within a fraction of second.. i can’t imagine a man-made thing moving that fast..)
January 7th, 2011 at 8:46 am
Cool photo, but sorry, I don’t think that’s the ISS.
1) The silouette does not match the ISS: The ISS is T-shaped, so the silouette would be drastically different that what is presented in this photo. If the ISS is viewed on the axis of the main solar panels, (and there was perfect alignment of the two end-sets of panels) there should be the round center, a solar panel to one side, then a solar panel AND a thick silouette of the tangential pods/units to one side.
2) The configuration of the solar panels does not match the ISS: The panels in the photo show the panels are mounted so they rotate like a propeller, was compared to the panels on the ISS which rotate on thier long axis.
I think this is the Hubble or a KH satelite.
January 7th, 2011 at 9:11 am
Here’s another awesome eclipse shot just released yesterday:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/5333202438/
January 7th, 2011 at 12:49 pm
[...] 10 Things That Ended in 2010 Insanely Awesome Solar Eclipse Picture 17 Lost Minutes of 2001: A Space Odyssey National Geographic’s Photography Contest 2010 [...]
January 8th, 2011 at 10:01 am
[...] from the Bad Astronomer: To give you an overall idea of what you’re seeing here: the Sun is 147 million kilometers away [...]
January 8th, 2011 at 7:51 pm
looks like an egg yolk
January 9th, 2011 at 3:13 am
Without Space shuttle (sticked on image) is a too simple image composition
January 9th, 2011 at 1:50 pm
[...] make me go WOW! But I don’t want to infringe any copyright, so here’s the link to the Bad Astronomy blog where I first saw the image – I do urge you to have a look, because it’s [...]
January 9th, 2011 at 4:01 pm
[...] Fabulous Solar Eclipse Shot By MJL, on January 9th, 2011 Belated post, but Phil Platt of Bad Astronomy fame has posted an incredible photo of the recent solar eclipse here. [...]
January 10th, 2011 at 7:25 am
Congratulations. Great work…:)
January 10th, 2011 at 8:41 am
I thought it was a Canadian flag at first.
January 11th, 2011 at 1:10 am
[...] stumbled upon a reference to the blog Bad Astronomy, which featured a post called “INSANELY awesome solar eclipse picture“. It shows just that: An insanely awesome photo of the [...]
January 11th, 2011 at 12:24 pm
Most Impressive!
Next up I now expect a photo of the Death Star
January 11th, 2011 at 3:46 pm
first, many thanks to Phil and to all of you who have sent nice comments.
Some answers:
@Ken and Ketan : it’s not my (main) source of income, fortunately. I practice astronomy during spare time and vacancies. For this photo, intially I checked periodically the opportunities of seeing a solar transit of the ISS during the eclipse, considering that it may happen anywhere (including over my house, although it was not the most probable). When calculations showed that the only place was Oman, I got information about this country and discovered that it was a very nice (and safe) place to visit, with beautiful landscapes (sea, mountains, canyons and deserts). So I decided to spend 10 days in the area (including Dubai, not very far from there). Thus, the eclipse was not the only reason to travel there.
@Jim: making this image with Photoshop would be the least interesting thing to do. The excitement lies in the preparation and the making of the image, in the adrenalin that comes with the challenge, and in the pleasure to see the ISS on the screen of the camera after shooting, just for myself before publishing it. As for many things, the way is more interesting than the aim
@Craig: it’s an image taken with a reflex camera in continuous shooting (4 fps during 4 seconds)
@Alex: your mistake about angles comes from the fact that you are mixing different angles. 0.5°/s is a speed related to an angle as seen from the ground, although 360° (the orbit of the ISS) is related to an angle as seen from the center of the Earth.
@Hole: if this silhouette is the HST, then this means that:
))))
- calsky confuses the orbital data of different satellites
- the size of the silhouette shows that the altitude of the HST has suddenly considerably decreased (at least by a factor of 10), so that it won’t be long to reach the ground
January 12th, 2011 at 10:18 pm
really really awesome
January 13th, 2011 at 4:14 am
[...] Pretty cool photo:http://legault.perso.sfr.fr/eclipse110104_solar_transit.htmlhttp://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/01/04/insanely-awesome-solar-eclipse-picture/ [...]
January 14th, 2011 at 9:14 am
Thierry Legault: My statements were only based on silouette comparison. Can the ISS present the silouette in the photo? No.
It’s more likely it’s something else, and the only satelites that came to mind that would provide that satelite are the HST or a KH.
Sometimes the less complex process provides more accurate information.
January 14th, 2011 at 10:33 pm
@hole
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html – and look at the ‘print your own 10th aniversary space station calendar.
Rotate 30 degrees or so anticlockwise.
‘Push’ the right-hand solar panel towards the sun, so it’s at an angle of around 45 degrees, to get the foreshortening.
Looks damn close to me.
January 15th, 2011 at 11:52 am
[...] From Discover: [...]
January 18th, 2011 at 9:28 am
Shhh.. It’s really a Canadian flag.
January 18th, 2011 at 10:58 am
what the the black spot bottom at right corner? Real sun black sopt???? Pls explain..
January 19th, 2011 at 2:08 am
yes Nirman, it’s a big sunspot (bigger than the Earth, actually). There is also a group of smaller sunspots, close to the center of the disk.
regards
February 1st, 2011 at 8:24 pm
I thought it was a tie fighter until I read the article.
February 6th, 2011 at 9:17 am
Absolutely awesome!!!
And what a brilliant reason to take time off to see Oman!
Excellence all around!
February 20th, 2011 at 5:38 pm
[...] Discovery Magazine No hay comentarios Sindicación RSS para los comentarios de este post Enlace para [...]
February 27th, 2011 at 2:40 am
That’s really a tie fighter
April 11th, 2011 at 8:38 pm
It looks like the Canadian flag
April 27th, 2011 at 10:59 pm
its obviously a tie fighter.
July 1st, 2011 at 9:27 am
BEAUTIFUL
July 28th, 2011 at 12:50 am
Duh! Thats a tie-fighter, not the ISS.
July 29th, 2011 at 9:50 am
[...] INSANELY awesome solar eclipse picture | Bad Astronomy | Discover … Jan 4, 2011 … Astronomy | ISS | Earlier today Europe, Asia, and Africa got to see a nice partial solar eclipse as … [...]
August 23rd, 2011 at 2:56 pm
[...] INSANELY awesome solar eclipse picture | Bad Astronomy | Discover … Jan 4, 2011 … Astronomy | | Earlier today Europe, Asia, and Africa got to see a nice partial solar eclipse as the … [...]
August 23rd, 2011 at 3:40 pm
[...] INSANELY awesome solar eclipse picture | Bad Astronomy | Discover … Jan 4, 2011 … Just one awesome and insanely rare photo for space nerds: В« The Great American Desert Says: … [...]
November 5th, 2011 at 3:20 pm
That was just awesome! Superb shot!