E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Thierry Legault / Astrophoto.fr
A three-image composite tracks the International Space Station and the shuttle Atlantis as they move across the sun's disk on July 15.
They look like alien bugs hopping across the sun, but these specks may represent the very last pictures of a space shuttle in orbit as seen from Earth.
French astrophotographer Thierry Legault, an expert in the technique of tracking spacecraft silhouettes, captured these views of the International Space Station and the shuttle Atlantis during their final rendezvous. Atlantis landed today, bringing the 30-year space shuttle program to an end.
The picture above is a composite, showing three views of the station-shuttle complex as it passed over the sun's disk on July 15. Legault had to travel to just the right location to get the shot. This one was taken from Caen in France. The entire transit took just seven-tenths of a second. Legault has labeled the shuttle and elements of the space station in this higher-resolution view:
Thierry Legault / Astrophoto.fr
The labels on this image point out the position of Atlantis and components of the International Space Station during a July 15 transit.
In an email, Legault told me that he traveled through the Czech Republic, Germany and the Netherlands to capture the silhouettes. One picture, snapped north of Prague and posted to Legault's website, shows the space station and the shuttle side by side, 50 minutes after Atlantis' undocking earlier this week.
Legault produced the piece de resistance today during a stopover near Emden, in northern Germany. It may not look quite as impressive as the others, but it could well be more historic. Legault wrote that the picture was taken "just 21 minutes before the deorbit burn, therefore there are chances that it is the very last image of a space shuttle in orbit."
Here's a composite of four images, taken during the 0.9-second-long transit. The silhouettes of Atlantis are highlighted within white circles:
Thierry Legault / Astrophoto.fr
A four-image composite tracks Atlantis' transit across the sun's disk, just 21 minutes before today's deorbit burn. The white circles highlight Atlantis.
For the telescope and camera buffs out there, Legault says the images were produced using a Takahashi TOA-150 6-inch apochromatic refractor (focal length 3600mm) on an EM-400 mount, with a Baader Herschel wedge. The camera is a Canon 5D Mark II, set for an exposure of 1/8000s, 100 ISO, working in continuous shooting at four frames per second. Transit forecasts were calculated by www.calsky.com.
Merci beaucoup to Thierry for sharing his pictures with us through the years.
More great views of Atlantis:
- Space station crew watches Atlantis descend
- Photographers capture Atlantis' last landing
- Southern lights are sweeter in space
- Aircraft captures unique view of launch
- Shuttle Atlantis' last trek to liftoff
- Atlantis' flight on PhotoBlog
Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page or following @b0yle on Twitter. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," Alan's book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
Let's hope for the sake of the survival of our species that private sector gets into space travel and exploration quickly and effectively. The reality is that we are using up the resources on this planet at such an alarming rate that we need a new pioneer to colonize. There is only one way towards this goal and that is through direct travel and exploration of the handful of Earth-like planets that we already have in our crosshairs.
Should be interesting to see if private sector can increase far space exploration tech. The problem is that private sector must be able to actuate some financial profit/funding to function.
Future Chinse historians will use this along with a few other dates to mark the decline of American wealth and scientific exploration.
Quote from the text in 2075, "The Americans got too prosperous and forgot how to earn money faster than they spent it. They declined in their power and scientific explorations and can barely afford to buy the cheap goods that we supply them today. They blamed their corporations so took them off their hands. No one wants their dollars anymore because they have nothing that we need to purchase, but we send them the basics."
Great photo's and very unique! The U.S. Space Program may be on hold, but the best is yet to come. Though the Russians will be ferrying astronauts to the spce station, it will only be temporary. We will be building space vehicles through private means. Our next manned voyage escaping low earth orbit will be a manned voyage to the Vesta asteroid. Then Nasa plans a manned voyage to Mars, sometime during the 2030's; however this could be subject to change, I believe we should return to the moon and establish a base, before we continue to voyage to a asteroid and Mars. This program must be speeded up, because the momentum of space travel is a continuum and must not be impeded.
I have no problem with looking to have the private sector get involved. Most of the expertise is there anyway. Who do you think develops and builds the Space Vehicles, NASA? No, they put out an RFP and the private industry designs, develops and builds. Kevin you are right, profit will play a big part. My concern is right now we are again beholden to another nation. Bush ordered a transition plan to shudder the shuttle and develop the Constellation launch vehicle and Orion space vehicle so that there would be about a 2 to 3 year gap between operations. The idiot in charge now canceled the Constellation and Orion and now we will be 8 to 10 years between programs. Obamartinez did do one thing right, he ordered NASA to reach out to the Muslims to make sure they felt good about their contributions to space exploration which has allowed Iran to develop missile technology. It might take a few years, but history will not be kind to this bumbling Communist.
AMEN to that!
Let's hope for the sake of the universe that our species does not survive.
I'm always searching about this type of information and I feel so glad to find this website and read this blog. need expert opinion for Resume your job.
I'm always searching about this type of information and I feel so glad to find this website and read this blog. need expert opinion for Resume your job.
I'm always searching about this type of information and I feel so glad to find this website and read this blog. need expert opinion for Resume your job.
Nice photos! Did anyone read the story about the 3 missing astronauts?