(Nothing I can do) a Partial Eclipse of the Sun b/w ISS, Me and the Moon

January 5, 2011 11:00 AM

Yesterday there was a partial solar eclipse over most of Europe and northwestern Asia. There were a lot of great pictures, but the most spectacular may have been the solar transit of the International Space Station during the partial eclipse, taken by French astrophotographer, Thierry Legault. Bad Astronomy has more on why he chose the Sultanate of Oman, and how he captured a picture that was possible for less than a second. Bad Astronomy also covered his picture of the lunar transit of ISS, captured December 21, 2010.
posted by filthy light thief (27 comments total)

"Bad Astronomy has more on why he chose to take his picture in the Sultanate of Oman ..."
posted by filthy light thief at 11:02 AM on January 5, 2011

Some fantastic shots :)
posted by Newcott at 11:09 AM on January 5, 2011

Nice
posted by Pseudoephedrine at 11:11 AM on January 5, 2011

I prefer the alternate caption, "TIE Fighter spotted as Death Star Blots Out Sun"
posted by mikepop at 11:12 AM on January 5, 2011 [16 favorites]

Impressive.

As for "how," I'm going to go out on a limb and assume he had the "motor drive" setting turned on for his camera and mashed the shutter down for quite a while.
posted by Threeway Handshake at 11:17 AM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

That's a fantastic image.
posted by HuronBob at 11:17 AM on January 5, 2011

But that doesn't come with a live b-side. /music geek
posted by filthy light thief at 11:17 AM on January 5, 2011

My comment was a reply to mikepop
posted by filthy light thief at 11:18 AM on January 5, 2011

My favorite comment from Bad Astronomy:

Thierry could save a bundle on airfare if he’d just pick up a copy of Photoshop.

Joking aside, I would have liked some more details on how he got the shot, and how he determined the location to shoot from. I understand conceptually that it's possible to figure out precisely where and when to put yourself to get a shot like that, but the practical realities of doing it seem ... daunting, to say the least.
posted by Kadin2048 at 11:18 AM on January 5, 2011

Man, the ISS really gets around.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 11:25 AM on January 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

There's a little black spot on the sun today
posted by benzenedream at 11:26 AM on January 5, 2011 [3 favorites]

Joking aside, I would have liked some more details on how he got the shot, and how he determined the location to shoot from.

Legault says on his page: "Transit forecast calculated by www.calsky.com (many thanks to Arnold Barmettler for his help)."

Also, from Bad Astronomy: "That’s why Thierry sojourned to Oman; due to the geometry of the ISS orbit, it was from there that he had the best chance of getting a picture of the station as it passed in front of the Sun during the relatively brief duration of the actual solar eclipse."
posted by The Mouthchew at 11:27 AM on January 5, 2011

Yesterday there was a partial solar eclipse over most of Europe and northwestern Asia...

posted by filthy light thief

eponysterical!
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 11:29 AM on January 5, 2011 [6 favorites]

Kadin2048: I would have liked some more details on how he got the shot, and how he determined the location to shoot from.

Thierry posted some details on his website, including: Transit forecast calculated by www.calsky.com. On that site, you can track many celestial bodies (natural and artificial), including ISS, with details that I don't fully understand.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:30 AM on January 5, 2011

I really need to preview before posting.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:31 AM on January 5, 2011

Science is badass.
posted by JimmyJames at 11:34 AM on January 5, 2011

mikepop: I prefer the alternate caption, "TIE Fighter spotted as Death Star Blots Out Sun"

Also, see the tags
(and now I find ThatsNoMoon hasn't been used before)
posted by filthy light thief at 11:34 AM on January 5, 2011

I prefer the alternate caption, "TIE Fighter spotted as Death Star Blots Out Sun"

I love you.
posted by Ratio at 11:37 AM on January 5, 2011

'Ah' says everyone
just as the birds are silent
with surprise

All I really, really, really want to see
is a total eclipse of the sun
posted by FatherDagon at 11:48 AM on January 5, 2011

thanks, filthy; I've been a spaceweather follower for some years now. Thierry Legault has been responsible for many spectacular photos of this type, as a regular contributor on their feed. I'm not entirely certain of the specifics but he's got some truly out-there skills and equipment to pull off these sorts of captures, as it apparently takes less than a second for the ISS to transit across the (uneclipsed) face of the sun.

a pinpoint-accurate, PC-driven tracking camera mount is only one of many tools in his arsenal, from what I recall.
posted by lonefrontranger at 11:48 AM on January 5, 2011

Also, see the tags

Yeah, I was going to go with "...as Moon Blots Out Sun" to tee up "that's no moon!" for someone else, but thought it worked better overall this way.
posted by mikepop at 11:50 AM on January 5, 2011

CalSky is pretty awesome. I've just started messing around with it, but so far I've gotten it to tell me when the next few Iridium satellite flares are ... might have to try and look for them tonight.
posted by Kadin2048 at 11:54 AM on January 5, 2011

Looks like a meme to me. And an obvious "Fuck Yeah" Tumblr.
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:39 PM on January 5, 2011

that's via MeFi's Own Jofus/Joe the Dough
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:43 PM on January 5, 2011

Flag of New Mexico.
posted by ovvl at 4:56 PM on January 5, 2011

Pretty cool!
posted by ph00dz at 5:24 AM on January 6, 2011

Besides how amazing the ISS shot is (and the timing--wow!), the scales in the Bad Astronomy article blow my mind. (If you didn't read: the little black sunspot in the lower right quadrant is about twice the size of Earth.) Thanks so much for this post.
posted by manguero at 10:59 AM on January 13, 2011