International Space Station Crosses the Face of the Sun in Stunning Solar Transit

First Posted: Sep 08, 2015 12:06 PM EDT

The moon isn't the only thing that can eclipse the sun. In this case, the International Space Station (ISS) had its turn. NASA has released a new composite image that shows the ISS passing in front of our nearest star.

The new image is actually made from five frames. It shows the space station, with a crew of nine onboard, in silhouette as it transits the sun at roughly five miles per second on Sunday, Sept. 6, 2015.

With that said, this particular type of picture isn't all that unusual. In fact, a very similar picture of the ISS transiting the moon was taken early in August. With that said, it does make for a spectacular image.

This latest image was actually taken just two days after Soyuz crew members Sergey Volkov of Roscosmos, Andreas Morgensen of ESA and Aidyn Aimbetov of the Kazakh Space Agency joined their Expedition 44 crewmates. The crew is currently working on several hundred experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science that will tell researchers a bit more about the impacts of life on Earth.

For more information about operations on the International Space Station, visit NASA's website.

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TagsNASA, NASA’s, international space station, ISS, Astronaut, Astronauts, Sun, Images