NASA shares image of ISS transiting the Sun; tiny silhouettes leave netizens in awe

NASA on Saturday shared a composite image of seven stunning frames of the International Space Station (ISS) transiting the Sun. In the images, the ISS can be seen as tiny dots casting its silhouette onto the Sun as it transits the golden orb at roughly five miles per second near Nellysford, Virginia.

ISS transits Sun

According to NASA, at the time of the transit, astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet were working outside the space station on a spacewalk that lasted a total of 6 hours and 45 minutes. The duo was successfully installing and deploying a new roll-out solar array to augment the station's power supply. However, during this time, NASA managed to capture the beautiful silhouettes of the ISS' shadow on the Sun when the two astronauts were out on a spacewalk. According to the American space agency, the space station was moving at a speed of roughly five miles (eight km) per second about 410 kilometers above Earth.

"At the time of the transit, Shane Kimbrough and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet were working outside the station on a spacewalk that lasted a total of 6 hours and 45 minutes. The duo successfully installed and deployed a new roll-out solar array to augment the station's power supply. ⁣Also onboard the station, making up the crew of seven, are NASA astronauts Megan McArthur, Mark Vande Hei, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Oleg Novitskiy," NASA's Instagram said in its caption. 

Netizens marvel as ISS transits Sun

Reacting to the stunning visual, netizens marvelled at the sight and how tiny the International Space Station looked against the backdrop of the Sun. Some even compared the unbelievable sight to Coldplay's aesthetic album covers.