ISS Crosses Massive Sunspot Big Enough to Swallow 2 Earths! Check Out These Rare Photos

ISS crossed a sunspot that is massive enough to swallow two Earths.

The International Space Station cast its shadow across three sets of sunspots; one of these is so big is it could swallow two Earths.

To take the rare astrophotography images, Legault used his 220-pound telescope. Taking these images wasn't an easy task since NASA's space laboratory can travel at around 17,500 mph.

ISS is estimated to circle around the Earth every 90 minutes. However, it only spends less than one second in front of the sun.

So, capturing an HD image of the ISS in front of the sun is already a big feat for Thierry.

"I caught the ISS passing just in front of the biggest sunspot, in a 0.6-second transit at the speed of 27000 km/h!" said the French astrophotographer via his official Twitter post.

If you want to see his official ISS images and his video, you can click on his official Twitter content below.

Fun Facts About Sunspots

There's no denying that sunspots are one of the most interesting space phenomena.

If you are one of the individuals intrigued by these dark spots on the sun's surface, here are some fun facts about them:

• Sunspots were first observed telescopically in 1610 AD.
• A sunspot is only temporary on the sun's surface. Some of the only last for days or weeks.
• Usually, a sunspot cycle lasts for 11 years. After that, their numbers will decrease.
• Sunspots that are gathered in one region are called the "Active Region" or a "sunspot group."
• Some sunspots, such as the one captured by Legault, can be larger than Earth. Meanwhile, other sunspots can be very small that telescopic observations can't easily see them.

To learn more fun facts about sunspots, just visit this link.

Tags

ISS, International Space Station, Earth