# International Space Station transit of the sun



## crimbfighter (Jun 16, 2020)

I use a website called transit finder to determine when and where the ISS will pass in transit of the sun. This allows the ISS to be a silhouette as it crosses over the sun. Yesterday it transited the sun and the transit was visible not too far from where I live. The transit duration was 0.79 seconds and occurred at 4:08:22pm. I used the high frame rate of my D500 to ensure I caught an image of it through my telescope. I started a burst several seconds ahead of the transit and continued for several seconds after to ensure I caught it. With the transit occurring with the sun high in the sky, it meant the ISS was face on and showed a great profile of the station and its large solar arrays.

Celestron 8" EdgeHD SCT telescope
Nikon D500
1/2000 sec at ISO2000
Equivalent focal length of 3000mm


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## Jeff15 (Jun 17, 2020)

Very interesting shot......


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## K9Kirk (Jun 17, 2020)

Very cool shot. I bet they're bored and fooling around, playing "Spin the Bottle" and "Truth or Dare" up there.


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## Jeff G (Jun 17, 2020)

Truly amazing shot!  Looks like an inbound tie fighter!


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## Soocom1 (Jun 17, 2020)

Fascinating!


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## Gardyloo (Jun 17, 2020)

Your astronomical photos are driving me crazy with envy.  Keep it up!


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## 480sparky (Jun 17, 2020)

Here's what it takes to make one:


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## edsland (Jun 17, 2020)

Great catch


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## PJM (Jun 18, 2020)

Awesome shot!


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## photoflyer (Jun 18, 2020)

Now that is an example of compression: the ISS looks like it is orbiting the sun, not Earth.


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## Derrel (Jun 18, 2020)

Good shot.


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## crimbfighter (Jun 18, 2020)

Jeff15 said:


> Very interesting shot......


Thanks!....



K9Kirk said:


> Very cool shot. I bet they're bored and fooling around, playing "Spin the Bottle" and "Truth or Dare" up there.


Haha, I'm sure. Oh wait, their days are scheduled down to the minute..



Jeff G said:


> Truly amazing shot!  Looks like an inbound tie fighter!


Thanks! That's actually not the first time I've heard that. It's like a frame taken out out of the movie's b roll.



Soocom1 said:


> Fascinating!


Agreed!



Gardyloo said:


> Your astronomical photos are driving me crazy with envy.  Keep it up!


Thanks! As long as the skies are clear, I'll try!


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## crimbfighter (Jun 18, 2020)

480sparky said:


> Here's what it takes to make one:


It was a little bit of a production, but holy cow, not as much as these guys put in! To catch a transit during and eclipse would be amazing!



edsland said:


> Great catch


Thanks!



PJM said:


> Awesome shot!


Thank you!



photoflyer said:


> Now that is an example of compression: the ISS looks like it is orbiting the sun, not Earth.


It does, doesn't it?



Derrel said:


> Good shot.


Thank you!


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## crimbfighter (Jun 18, 2020)

I also created a GIF of the transit from all of the frames I captured. It's interesting because knowing the transit duration, I was able to confirm the frame rate of my camera! I captured 8 frames with the ISS, and that matched the roughly .8 seconds of the transit at 10fps!


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## weepete (Jun 19, 2020)

That's very cool. You've got me looking at astrophotography stuff now!


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## photoflyer (Jun 19, 2020)

crimbfighter said:


> It does, doesn't it?



Funny.  After I posted that I thought "I wonder if any one will catch my mistake?".  Of course it orbits the sun by way of orbiting the earth...


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## charlie76 (Jun 22, 2020)

Holy cow, extremely cool, and very well planned out. I know absolutely nothing about astrophotography, but I’m wondering if photographing the sun at this magnification could damage a sensor? I don’t see myself aiming by D850 at the sun anytime soon


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## Tropicalmemories (Jun 22, 2020)

Great timing, great shot.


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## 480sparky (Jun 22, 2020)

charlie76 said:


> Holy cow, extremely cool, and very well planned out. I know absolutely nothing about astrophotography, but I’m wondering if photographing the sun at this magnification could damage a sensor? I don’t see myself aiming by D850 at the sun anytime soon



There are special filters used on telescopes to make viewing and photography safe.  There are some that are NOT safe, so one needs to be very very very careful.


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## photoflyer (Jun 23, 2020)

480sparky said:


> There are some that are NOT safe, so one needs to be very very very careful.



I was in a camera shop a few days before the last major eclipse, and they were getting calls for the necessary filter at the rate of a couple an hour.

I was also in the same shop a few days after the event and they were getting calls from people complaining that something was wrong with their camera after shooting the eclipse with it.


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## pez (Jun 24, 2020)

Awesome shot and GIF!


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## terri (Jun 24, 2020)

Terrific job!   This would be fun to print and hang on the wall - it's gorgeous in its own right, but knowing that you made it work so well has to be very satisfying.   

Great work!


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## RichardProtium (Jul 2, 2020)

Nice capture.


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## Mike Drone (Jul 2, 2020)

Now if we could get them to hold a sign out of the window.  Nice photo! =]


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