That large sunspot [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] near the right edge of the Sun is actually not a sunspot at all. It's the International Space Station (ISS [ http://www.nasa.gov…index.html ]) and the Space Shuttle Discovery [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] on mission STS-114 [ http://www.nasa.gov…]. In the past, many skygazers [ http://spaceflight.…] have spotted the space station and space shuttles as bright stars gliding [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] through twilight skies [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], still glinting [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] in the sunlight while orbiting 200 kilometers or so above the Earth's surface. But here, astronomer Anthony Ayiomamitis took advantage of a rarer opportunity to record the spacefaring combination [ http://www.perseus.…] moving quickly in silhouette across the solar disk. He snapped the picture on Thursday, July 28th from Athens, Greece. Launched [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] on Tuesday, Discovery joined with [ http://www.aaw-darm…] the ISS [ http://www.syrma.ne…index.html ] Thursday, making the already large space station seem to loom even larger [ http://www.astromee…].
Explanation
That large sunspot [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] near the right edge of the Sun is actually not a sunspot at all. It's the International Space Station (ISS [ http://www.nasa.gov…index.html ]) and the Space Shuttle Discovery [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] on mission STS-114 [ http://www.nasa.gov…]. In the past, many skygazers [ http://spaceflight.…] have spotted the space station and space shuttles as bright stars gliding [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] through twilight skies [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], still glinting [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] in the sunlight while orbiting 200 kilometers or so above the Earth's surface. But here, astronomer Anthony Ayiomamitis took advantage of a rarer opportunity to record the spacefaring combination [ http://www.perseus.…] moving quickly in silhouette across the solar disk. He snapped the picture on Thursday, July 28th from Athens, Greece. Launched [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] on Tuesday, Discovery joined with [ http://www.aaw-darm…] the ISS [ http://www.syrma.ne…index.html ] Thursday, making the already large space station seem to loom even larger [ http://www.astromee…].
