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Viral Instagram Video Shows How Small the Space Station Is Compared to the Moon

Passionate astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy recently shared a video meant to humble all humanity. The video captured the moment when the International Space Station (ISS) transited the moon, showing us once again how small we are in the vastness of space.
Space Station transits moon 1 photo
Photo: Andrew McCarthy/instagram
McCarthy captured the video from his backyard in Sacramento, on the morning of April the 10th. The ISS passed by the moon in a blink of an eye, which is why the photographer used slow motion to make the phenomenon more visible to our human gaze.

“The transit against the lit portion of the moon lasted just a few hundredths of a second, shown here in a video slowed down roughly 6x”, explained McCarthy in his Instagram post.

The moment of the day made Andrew’s job even harder, as the bright rays of the sun interfered with his shot of the moon. However, the result was still a stunning one, with the space station looking unbelievably tiny against the moon.

The International Space Station is a team project built with the help of five space agencies: NASA (United States), CSA (Canada), ESA (Europe), JAXA (Japan), and Roscosmos (Russia). It was first launched in 1998, and the first crew of astronauts arrived on it in the year 2000.

The space station works as an observatory and scientific research facility and orbits the Earth at a speed of 4.75 miles/second (which is more than 17,000 mph). Its average altitude is around 250 miles.

Andrew McCarthy is a talented astrophotographer, renowned for his beautiful and viral photos of the moon, comets, and other celestial bodies and events. He has a Patreon account where you can get access to all his work. You can see all his posts in full resolution, download premium wallpapers, images for print, and more.

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About the author: Cristina Mircea
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Cristina’s always found writing more comfortable to do than speaking, which is why she chose print over broadcast media in college. When she’s not typing, she also loves riding non-motorized two-wheelers, going on hikes with her dog, and rocking her electric guitars.
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