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It’s not everyday that astronomers take a snapshot of the International Space Station from the ground that actually show it’s shape. It takes perfect timing, patience and probably a huge amount of luck to get it. You just have to be in the right place at the right time to do it. However there are few who appear to have all these attributes and more and were able to capture photos of the ISS.

I was able to gather four such photos taken by different astronomers from all over the world. It just shows that lots of patience and planning does off.

First on the list is a photo of the International Space Station passing just in front of the terminator of the moon. The ISS is not that clear in this photo but the perfect timing to take photo while the craft is passing just above the moon’s terminator is amazing!

ISS by Tom Laskowski

The next two photos show the ISS passing in front of the sun effectively rendering the spacecraft in silhouette. The first of the two not only shows the ISS but also the Space Shuttle Discovery. The other one shows the ISS on its own but has greater detail. The timing for these two photos are even greater as the astronomers cannot see the ISS before it passes the sun.

ISS by Anthony Ayiomamitis

ISS by Thierry Legault

Lastly, the most stunning I found so far is one taken by Dirk Ewers from Germany. It doesn’t only show a hint of the ISS or its silhouette but the ISS itself. The photo is just so great that you can actually see details of the ISS clearly. To capture this image of the space station requires perfect tracking of the telescope that Dirk used and mind you, he only used a “small” telescope to do it.

ISS by Dirk Ewer

Larger version of these photos as well as better description can be found in the following Astronomy Picture of the Day pages.

• International Space Station in Transit by Tom Laskowski
• ISS and Discovery Transit the Sun by Anthony Ayiomamitis
• Sharp Silhouette by Thierry Legault
• Space Station in the Sun by Dirk Ewers

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