There was a whole lot of action during the total solar eclipse seen across the States yesterday – here and here – and with some perfect timing, one photographer was able to capture the ultimate space-related photobomb.
The moment was captured by official NASA astrophotographer Joel Kowsky in Banner, Wyoming, where only a partial eclipse could be seen – but that was a part of Kowsky’s plan.
You see, making an appearance was the International Space Station, which orbits at a casual 28 160 km/h at an altitude of 402 km.
As it passed by, Kowsky was at the ready and captured this photograph:
Can you see it? Yeah, it’s that little thing that looks like a TIE fighter from Star Wars.
Here’s a closeup:
Here’s the ISS’s full transit across the sun:
Cool, ne? Details from NASA:
The International Space Station, with a crew of six onboard, is seen in silhouette as it transits the Sun at roughly five miles per second during a partial solar eclipse, Monday, Aug. 21, 2017 near Banner, Wyoming.
Onboard as part of Expedition 52 are: NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson, Jack Fischer, and Randy Bresnik; Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Sergey Ryazanskiy; and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Paolo Nespoli.
A total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the contiguous United States from Lincoln Beach, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of South America, Africa, and Europe.
In return, those six astronauts sent a pic of what the eclipse looked like from space:
Pretty sick.
