This Amazing Pic Shows International Space Station Flying Past Our Sun, 400 Km Above Earth

NASA always has great photos to show off, they're looking out at the entire universe after all. But sometimes, there are photos so breathtaking you just have to stop for a moment and admire it.

In this case, that wouldn't even be a NASA photo, but one taken by an astronomer.

NASA featured the photo up there last week as part of its Astronomical Picture of the Day, alongside a brief explanation penned by an astronomer. The picture was captured by space photographer Rainee Colacurcio from Washington in the US, showing the International Space Station passing right in front of the Sun.

The ISS does photobomb the Sun often, given that it orbits the Earth about every 90 minutes, but getting the timing absolutely right is hard. For one, your equipment needs to be set up and ready, and it needs to be in exactly the right position.

In this case, the photo is actually a composite of two images. One was of the ISS crossing the Sun, while the other was captured in a way to highlight the details on the Sun's surface, shortly after the first image was taken. The two were then superimposed and colourised in order to give a truly spectacular photo.

Twitter of course is all over the photo, talking about how amazing it is and how much it puts the breadth of the universe into perspective.

And we humans are fighting over history, politics, geography and skin colour. Phew. https://t.co/leOU1ggSN3

¡ª Sandeep Manudhane (@sandeep_PT) July 15, 2019

The last time we captured a silhouette of the ISS like this was back in 2017, when observers in Wyoming spotted it passing in front of the Sun during a solar eclipse.

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NASA releases stunning image of ISS crossing in front of the sun . I don't know about you but that clearly looks like a Tie-Fighter to me! :P https://t.co/k36X6lS7QX pic.twitter.com/zSLcRSVvmO

¡ª ¡ï Thomas Pasieka (@ThomasPasieka) July 17, 2019