NASA · Space

Triple Alignment: Plane, Space Station, Sun

An astronomer captured an unexpected triple alignment of an airplane, the International Space Station (ISS), and the Sun.

The photograph, taken in the Czech Republic, features the Sun with dark silhouettes. These are not sunspots, which are common and caused by magnetic fields.

The small dark structure on the middle left is not the ISS, although the ISS was intentionally photographed passing before the Sun with precise timing.

The actual silhouette is an airplane, which coincidentally passed in front of the Sun during the planned ISS photo.

The photographer estimates the chance of a random Sun image containing silhouettes of both an airplane and the ISS from that location is approximately 30 million to one.

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