by APOD Robot » Wed Sep 23, 2020 4:05 am
ISS Transits Mars
Explanation: Yes, but have you ever seen the space station do this? If you
know when and where to look, watching the bright
International Space Station (ISS) drift across your night sky is a
fascinating sight -- but not very unusual. Images of the ISS crossing in front of the half-degree
Moon or
Sun do exist, but are somewhat rare as they take planning, timing, and patience to acquire. Catching the ISS crossing in front of
minuscule Mars, though, is on another level. Using
online software, the featured photographer learned that the unusual transit would be visible only momentarily along a very narrow stretch of nearby land spanning just 90 meters. Within this stretch, the equivalent
ground velocity of the passing ISS image would be a quick 7.4 kilometers per
second. However, with a standard camera, a small telescope, an exact location to set up his equipment, an exact direction to point the telescope, and sub-millisecond timing -- he created
a video from which the featured 0.00035 second exposure was extracted. In the resulting
image capture, details on both Mars and the ISS are visible simultaneously. The
featured image was acquired last Monday at 05:15:47 local time from just northeast of
San Diego,
California,
USA. Although typically much smaller, angularly, than the
ISS, Mars is approaching its maximum angular size in the
next few weeks, because the
blue planet (Earth) is set to
pass its closest to the
red planet (Mars) in their respective orbits around the Sun.
[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200923.html] [img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_200923.jpg[/img] [size=150]ISS Transits Mars[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] Yes, but have you ever seen the space station do this? If you [url=https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/]know when and where to look[/url], watching the bright [url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html]International Space Station[/url] (ISS) drift across your night sky is a [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140525.html]fascinating sight[/url] -- but not very unusual. Images of the ISS crossing in front of the half-degree [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190402.html]Moon[/url] or [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190715.html]Sun[/url] do exist, but are somewhat rare as they take planning, timing, and patience to acquire. Catching the ISS crossing in front of [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080714.html]minuscule Mars[/url], though, is on another level. Using [url=https://calsky.com/]online software[/url], the featured photographer learned that the unusual transit would be visible only momentarily along a very narrow stretch of nearby land spanning just 90 meters. Within this stretch, the equivalent [url=https://i.giphy.com/media/3ohc1eTesPXxSRVwNq/200w.webp]ground velocity[/url] of the passing ISS image would be a quick 7.4 kilometers per [i]second[/i]. However, with a standard camera, a small telescope, an exact location to set up his equipment, an exact direction to point the telescope, and sub-millisecond timing -- he created [url=https://youtu.be/oHcMvF-nP2s]a video[/url] from which the featured 0.00035 second exposure was extracted. In the resulting [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/140032790@N06/50348180127/in/pool-apods/]image capture[/url], details on both Mars and the ISS are visible simultaneously. The [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/140032790@N06/50347996866/]featured image[/url] was acquired last Monday at 05:15:47 local time from just northeast of [url=https://youtu.be/YoTNUUV4Nik]San Diego[/url], [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California]California[/url], [url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html]USA[/url]. Although typically much smaller, angularly, than the [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200220.html]ISS, Mars[/url] is approaching its maximum angular size in the [url=https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/why-is-mars-sometimes-bright-and-sometimes-faint]next few weeks[/url], because the [url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/earth/overview/]blue planet[/url] (Earth) is set to [url=https://mars.nasa.gov/all-about-mars/night-sky/opposition/]pass its closest[/url] to the [url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mars/overview/]red planet[/url] (Mars) in their respective orbits around the Sun.
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