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APOD

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.

See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.

Space Station over Lunar Terminator

Explanation: What's that in front of the Moon? It's the International Space Station . Using precise timing, the Earth-orbiting space platform was photographed in front of a partially lit Moon last year. The featured image was taken from Madrid , Spain with an exposure time of only 1/1000 of a second. In contrast, the duration of the transit of the ISS across the entire Moon was about half a second . The sun-glinting station can be seen just to the dark side of the day / night line known as the terminator . Numerous circular craters are visible on the distant Moon, as well as comparatively rough, light colored terrain known as highlands , and relatively smooth, dark colored areas known as maria . On-line tools can tell you when the International Space Station will be visible from your area.

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Date April 27, 2015
Credit Image Credit & Copyright: Dani Caxete
Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.