Once In A Lifetime Photograph

I think I have found the photo to define 2011 already, it shows just how small we are, even in our own solar system, plus it's a fantastically timed photo, the moon and the ISS passing in front of the sun at the same time!

Anyway, enough of my blathering...

Image of the solar transit of the International Space Station (ISS), taken from the area of Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman on January 4th 2011 at 9:09 UT, during the partial solar eclipse. Takahashi FSQ-106ED refractor on EM-10 mount, Canon 5D mark II. 1/5000s exposure at 100 iso.
Transit forecast calculated by www.calsky.com (many thanks to Arnold Barmettler for his help).
Transit duration: 0.86s. ISS distance to observer: 510 km. Speed in orbit: 7.8km/s (28000 km/h or 17000 mph).

The image shows three planes in space: the Sun at 150 million km, the Moon at about 400000 km and the ISS at 500 km.

Click for BIG pic!

I've posted some of Thierry Legault's work before but I have to say, this is his best!

reply to post by Chadwickus


It's important to realize our own insignificance, and this photgraph sums that up nicely

This is awesome, dude!

reply to post by Chadwickus


What I would give to be up there on the ISS what a photo, I am so pleased to live in an age where we have the technology to see such amazing photos, they really are stuff dreams are made of.

Nice find! Its an excellant photo! It would be very hard to capture that solar eclipse of that quality.

reply to post by W3RLIED2


If anything, I would say this picture evokes a feeling of significance to an otherwise insignificant corner of the universe.

Now if you want insignificance, stick with the Hubble Deep Field picture or something heh.

Fantastic picture...and for those who think we are insignificant just because of our size need to think again.....I dont think being small makes us insignificant.....

i dont think that is the iss, it looks more like darth vader in his ti fighter coming to earth to enslave us all with his jedi mind tricks

reply to post by booda


Well we could be insignificant on the universal scale of things...

Maybe humbling is a better word?

I think it's inspiring to see that human outpost out there in the magnificence of the cosmos.

"O Brave new world that has such men in it as these!"

Originally posted by Chadwickus
reply to post by booda

 

Well we could be insignificant on the universal scale of things...

Maybe humbling is a better word?

Ironically the opposite is also true.

As insignificant as we may be to the whole, would any of it matter except that each of us, individually, is here to appreciate it?

reply to post by Chadwickus


Legault, that guy is the king of spacecraft solar transits. He'll even go out of his way to travel to catch a transit during special events like this one. It paid off handsomely, and that kind of dedication is precisely why he's the king of solar transits. I'm certain he'll be making special arrangements to photograph ISS alongside next year's Venus transit as well, and I have to say I'm thankful that someone like him exists with both the ability and time to chase down special transit events to record them.

reply to post by ngchunter


Can't argue that.

Love the guy's work.

Originally posted by booda

Fantastic picture...and for those who think we are insignificant just because of our size need to think again.....I dont think being small makes us insignificant.....

Sure, I always joke - each one of us is the centre of the Universe, since we percieve it from here and it cannot be anywhere else for each particular one of us - and also the fact that the most minute detail must be percieved through our brain or else it doesn't exist (for us) is also very amusing.

For each one of us the Universe in its totallity exists only as long as we are aware, so it is (for us) completey dependant on our awareness (and I am not speaking in a new age way - but by simple logic). We are indeed the centre(s) of the Universe(s). Small as we are - the amazing size of the Universe, infinite knowledge that we keep gaining, everything there is - must also "be in our head" or it doesn't exist (for us).

reply to post by Chadwickus


Great pic! It amazes me how fake the sun looks in this picture, but at the same time it fills me with awe at just how big it is too!

reply to post by Chadwickus


Yea , great pic , have seen it somewhere before , maybe here at ATS , not sure .

I'm assuming that is the moon in the lower right quadrant ?

What is that between the ISS and the moon ? Anyone ?

Edit : Okay , just saw the date in the external source in your OP so , this can't be the same image I have seen , as that was several weeks or months ago that I saw it . Now I am curious . Has the guy had a similar photo of the ISS against the sun before ? Probably .

Anyway , great pic .

Originally posted by Chadwickus
I think I have found the photo to define 2011 already, it shows just how small we are, even in our own solar system, plus it's a fantastically timed photo, the moon and the ISS passing in front of the sun at the same time!

Anyway, enough of my blathering...

Image of the solar transit of the International Space Station (ISS), taken from the area of Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman on January 4th 2011 at 9:09 UT, during the partial solar eclipse. Takahashi FSQ-106ED refractor on EM-10 mount, Canon 5D mark II. 1/5000s exposure at 100 iso.
Transit forecast calculated by www.calsky.com (many thanks to Arnold Barmettler for his help).
Transit duration: 0.86s. ISS distance to observer: 510 km. Speed in orbit: 7.8km/s (28000 km/h or 17000 mph).

The image shows three planes in space: the Sun at 150 million km, the Moon at about 400000 km and the ISS at 500 km.

Click for BIG pic!

I've posted some of Thierry Legault's work before but I have to say, this is his best!

Actually no it doesn't show how small we are . That shows us much bigger then we really are .


A better representation of how small we are is


www.mbeckler.org...


the pale blue dot .

Awesome and humbling pic. Makes me think, out of all the photos taken in space by hubble etc, i wonder how many there are that we don't get to see. They probably have plenty of hi-res pics of strange space happenings or even UFOs etc.

Originally posted by okbmd
Edit : Okay , just saw the date in the external source in your OP so , this can't be the same image I have seen , as that was several weeks or months ago that I saw it . Now I am curious . Has the guy had a similar photo of the ISS against the sun before ? Probably .

Yes, he's taken quite a few stunning photos like this that have been publicized before, which is why I call him the king of solar transits. Here's a few previous examples of his work:
blogs.discovermagazine.com...
blogs.discovermagazine.com...
www.universetoday.com...

reply to post by ngchunter


Okay , thanks for that . The second link you posted is the one I believe I saw .

They are indeed awesome images . Shows just how freakin' huge the sun is and how small we are in comparison .

cool pic
i would love to see the earth from out of space.
every picture i have seen of the universe and stars galaxies they are nothing compared to be lookin at our planet.
the planet we have the privilage to live on
and yet we rape mother nature every day!