ISS transit 030111

Update!! Transit of the ISS observed on July 16, 2011.

I drove to the Winter Star Party for the steady skies, warm temperatures and the company of good astronomy friends. But when I heard that the ISS would transit the sun nearby, (thank you Alan Traino) I had to give it a try. I was scheduled to give my talk 12:30-1:30 - the transit centerline was 69 minutes later, 20 miles to the north on Marathon.With help from Brian Shelton and Mark Beale, I finished my talk, jumped into the car with solar imaging gear and we got set up just in time to catch it. I underestimated the narrowness of this event. We were about 5000 feet south of the centerline in a good location... another 500 feet and we would have missed it entirely. Lucky day! The space shuttle Discovery, on its final mission for NASA, is docked to the ISS. Additional solar images from WSP can be seen here.

March 1, 2011/ captured with Little Big Man, PGR Scorpion camera, White light image/ Baader Herschel Wedge

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