¿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2020 September 23 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. ISS Transits Mars Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Tom Glenn Explanation: Yes, but have you ever seen the space station do this? If you [4]know when and where to look, watching the bright [5]International Space Station (ISS) drift across your night sky is a [6]fascinating sight -- but not very unusual. Images of the ISS crossing in front of the half-degree [7]Moon or [8]Sun do exist, but are somewhat rare as they take planning, timing, and patience to acquire. Catching the ISS crossing in front of [9]minuscule Mars, though, is on another level. Using [10]online software, the featured photographer learned that the unusual transit would be visible only momentarily along a very narrow stretch of nearby land spanning just 90 meters. Within this stretch, the equivalent [11]ground velocity of the passing ISS image would be a quick 7.4 kilometers per second. However, with a standard camera, a small telescope, an exact location to set up his equipment, an exact direction to point the telescope, and sub-millisecond timing -- he created [12]a video from which the featured 0.00035 second exposure was extracted. In the resulting [13]image capture, details on both Mars and the ISS are visible simultaneously. The [14]featured image was acquired last Monday at 05:15:47 local time from just northeast of [15]San Diego, [16]California, [17]USA. Although typically much smaller, angularly, than the [18]ISS, Mars is approaching its maximum angular size in the [19]next few weeks, because the [20]blue planet (Earth) is set to [21]pass its closest to the [22]red planet (Mars) in their respective orbits around the Sun. Portal Universe: [23]Random APOD Generator Tomorrow's picture: open space __________________________________________________________________ [24]< | [25]Archive | [26]Submissions | [27]Index | [28]Search | [29]Calendar | [30]RSS | [31]Education | [32]About APOD | [33]Discuss | [34]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [35]Robert Nemiroff ([36]MTU) & [37]Jerry Bonnell ([38]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [39]Specific rights apply. [40]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [41]ASD at [42]NASA / [43]GSFC & [44]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2009/MarsISS_Glenn_1000.jpg 3. https://www.flickr.com/photos/140032790@N06/ 4. https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/ 5. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html 6. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140525.html 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190402.html 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190715.html 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080714.html 10. https://calsky.com/ 11. https://i.giphy.com/media/3ohc1eTesPXxSRVwNq/200w.webp 12. https://youtu.be/oHcMvF-nP2s 13. https://www.flickr.com/photos/140032790@N06/50348180127/in/pool-apods/ 14. https://www.flickr.com/photos/140032790@N06/50347996866/ 15. https://youtu.be/YoTNUUV4Nik 16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California 17. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200220.html 19. https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/why-is-mars-sometimes-bright-and-sometimes-faint 20. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/earth/overview/ 21. https://mars.nasa.gov/all-about-mars/night-sky/opposition/ 22. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mars/overview/ 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/random_apod.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200922.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 28. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 33. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=200923 34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200924.html 35. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 36. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 37. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 38. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 39. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 40. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 41. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 42. https://www.nasa.gov/ 43. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 44. http://www.mtu.edu/