Astronomy Picture of the Day

    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 November 6

                                Moon over ISS
     Image Credit & Copyright: Derek Demeter (Emil Buehler Planetarium)

   Explanation: Completing one orbit of our fair planet in 90 minutes the
   International Space Station can easily be spotted by eye as a very
   bright star moving through the night sky. Have you seen it? The next
   time you do, you will have recognized the location of over 20 years of
   continuous human presence in space. In fact, the Expedition 1 crew to
   the ISS docked with the orbital outpost some 400 kilometers above the
   Earth on November 2, 2000. No telescope is required to spot the ISS
   flashing through the night. But this telescopic field of view does
   reveal remarkable details of the space station captured as it transited
   the waning gibbous moon on November 3, just one day after the space age
   milestone. The well-timed telescopic snapshot also contains the
   location of another inspirational human achievement. About 400,000
   kilometers away, the Apollo 11 landing site on the dark, smooth lunar
   Sea of Tranquility is to the right of the ISS silhouette.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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