Space Shuttle Pics - In Front of the Sun!

OCDinPDX

Paint Ph.D
I found these on another forum and simply had to share them with you guys.

NASA and some very brave astronauts are currently on a mission to perform maintenance on the aging Hubble space telescope. The mission itself is to repair broken parts and add in a new camera and other new pieces to help extend the life of the telescope.

One amateur astronomer wasn't content with only reading about it online or possibly watching a live feed. He decided to take a picture of the repair mission by himself from down here on Earth.

What you see below is Atlantis as it is about to capture Hubble from orbit. These impressive and stunning photos were taken by Thierry Legault's from Florida and the backdrop in the picture is the Sun.

For those of you who want to know how the picture was taken: "the image shows the faraway scene as viewed through a Takahashi TOA-130 refractor telescope (focal length 2200mm) and a Baader solar prism, which gives the Sun its muted look. Strapped to the back of the telescope, the 5D was set to ISO 100 and a 1/8000 shutter speed, the camera's extreme low and high settings, respectively [Edit: woops, the Mk II actually does ISO 50]. Legault used the free online Celestial Observer tool to calculate the best time to shoot from his location."

A true mark of mastery and beauty not only for mankind as this orbital ballet takes place but also for the knowledge and skills that were required to capture these great photos.

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You can't fool me that's a ping pong ball. The Star Trek movie was more realistic. :lmfao


I'm just playin'. Thanks for sharing.:bigups
 
Is that real?? The sun, even though it's obviously filtered, looks WAY too uniform and even...
I dunno...
 
Is that real?? The sun, even though it's obviously filtered, looks WAY too uniform and even...
I dunno...

From another site:

Astrophotographer Thierry Legault took this amazing picture of the International Space Station and the shuttle Atlantis passing in front of the sun. The exposure was so short (1/8000s) that atmospheric disturbances did not have time to blurr the image. You can see all the details of the ISS, and the tail of the space shuttle from 550Km away!
 
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