A blue moon shot! The astrophotographer captures an impressive photo of the International Space Station as it traverses the lunar surface
- The orbiting space science lab had been reoriented for a spacewalk
- An astrophotographer captured the image of the ISS in Sacramento, California
- The image shows the ISS as it travels across the moon in the early hours of Monday morning
An impressive image of the International Space Station has been captured against a backdrop of the moon as its astronauts prepare for a spacewalk.
The orbiting science lab had been reoriented to allow astronauts Kate Rubins and Victor Glover to go out and prepare solar arrays for future upgrades.
Astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy captured the image of the station, which orbits about 400 km above the Earth, while on the side of the road in Sacramento, California.
This rare photo of the reoriented view of the station, captured around 10:44 GMT Monday, “instantly became one of my favorite catches,” McCarthy explained.
The International Space Station is captured on camera in a very rare photo, as the spacecraft was illuminated for a split second as it passed in front of the moon.
NASA astronaut Kate Rubins is pictured during a spacewalk to install solar matrix modification kits at the space station on Sunday, February 28
What made this image remarkable was the orientation of the ISS at the time it was made and McCarthy’s “second” accuracy in capturing the orbiting laboratory as it crossed the Copernicus crater to the moon, before it disappeared. .
This lunar impact crater is visible with binoculars slightly northwest of the center of the Earth-oriented hemisphere.
The solar panels that are usually flat on each side of the station were seen changing at different angles due to the spacewalk, which added to the uniqueness of the photograph.
In their normal orientation, the eight solar matrices stretch completely to collect energy from the sun, but during a spacewalk they were sometimes realigned.
McCarthy said the image instantly became one of the favorite images of the many photographs he captures of the night sky daily.
“This is due to the novelty of capturing a spacecraft from Earth, but mostly because I was able to clearly see the reconfiguration of the solar matrix due to a mission being broadcast live from NASA,” he explained.
“This is one of the few times when changes in structure can be observed due to a mission from Earth easily.
“In this image, you can see how the solar array has been reoriented so that the ISS crew can install new hardware.”
British astronaut Tim Peake responded to the post about the image on Twitter, saying, “Congratulations on receiving such a fantastic photo of my old home!”
The photograph was captured on the side of the road in Sacramento, California, chosen as it was a clear sky where McCarthy could capture the ISS following a path across the moon.
But I didn’t expect to get that weird, fun shot of a mission that would pass us by.
McCarthy said the image instantly became one of the favorite images of the many photographs he captures of the night sky daily
And, to top it off, in the photo the ISS goes on to graze my favorite lunar crater, Copernicus. What a world.
He added: “At 2:44 a.m. this morning, I positioned myself for the ISS to pass between the moon and me to get that image. What I didn’t expect was that the ISS would look very different from the usual. ”
For the spacewalk, which led to the new ISS look, Glover and Rubins continued to work on power system upgrades, which slowly degrade over time.
British astronaut Tim Peake responded to the message on the image on Twitter to describe it as a “fantastic shot of my old house.”
His work lasted seven hours and four minutes on Sunday, February 28, between 11:12 and 18:16 GMT, all broadcast live by NASA.
The ISS has eight solar network wings, each designed to produce a total of 250 kW of power and the oldest was launched in 2000, the most recent in 2009, all due to the now defunct space shuttles.
They work well, but degrade, as they were designed to have a shelf life of 15 years, and the older ones are now 21 years old. The new solar arrays will be placed ahead of the old ones later this year, launching into a SpaceX vehicle in June.
The upcoming spacewalk will cause Rubins to pair up with Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to complete more solar matrix upgrades.