Sharp Silhouette
Credit & Copyright:
Thierry Legault
Though it's
93 million miles away, the Sun still hurts your eyes
when you look at it.
But bright sunlight (along with accurate planning and
proper equipment!) resulted in
this
sharp silhouette of spaceship and space station.
The amazing telescopic view, recorded on September 17,
captures shuttle
orbiter Atlantis and
the International
Space
Station in orbit over planet Earth.
At a range of 550 kilometers from the observing site near
Mamers, Normandy, France, Atlantis (left) has just
undocked and moved about 200 meters away from the space station.
Tomorrow, yet
another satellite
of planet Earth can
be seen in silhouette - the Moon will eclipse the Sun.
This last eclipse
of 2006 will be seen as an annular
solar eclipse along a track
that crosses northern South America and the south Atlantic.