NASA captures image of ISS crossing Sun

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the month of December 2016 captured a spectacular image of the International Space Station (ISS) making its way in front of the Sun.

The International Space Station was travelling at a speed of about 28968 kilometres per hour. At that time, NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Peggy Whitson, Russian cosmonauts Andrey Borisenko, Sergey Ryzhikov, Oleg Novitskiy and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet were onboard.

The image was captured by Noel Kowsky, a lens man working for NASA. He captured the photograph just when it was about to make a transit in front of the Sun on 17 December 2016. The ISS was transiting the Sun when he was able to capture several images of the event.

Around ten images out of the whole lot were combined to make a single composite view of the ISS transiting across the Sun.

About International Space Station (ISS)
• International Space Station (ISS) is considered to be the largest man-made structure ever to be built in space.
• It revolves around the earth 15 times in a day at a speed of about 8 km/second.
• The ISS orbits the Earth at an altitude of about 330 to 435 kilometres which makes it very difficult to see it directly without the help of a high-powered telescope at times.
• It serves as a space environment research laboratory in which crew members conduct experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology and other fields.
• There is also the challenge of knowing where the space station will be relative to Earth and at what time.
• Stargazers often use a tracker to find out the location of the ISS.