{"id":604934,"date":"2026-07-26T11:53:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T11:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/604934\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T11:53:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T11:53:15","slug":"photographer-captures-rare-shot-of-venus-and-the-iss-together-in-one-frame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/604934\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographer Captures Rare Shot of Venus and the ISS Together in One Frame"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AFor a split-second, the ISS whizzes past Venus at an incredible speed. | Photo by AJ Smadi <\/p>\n

Photographer AJ Smadi has captured the second-ever photograph of the International Space Station (ISS) and Venus in the same frame \u2014 he also captured the first one. <\/p>\n

Smadi captured the cosmic alignment last Saturday at 6:38 p.m. from a park in Edmonds, Washington, north of Seattle. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\u201cLike the Moon, Venus has phases, and recently emerged from behind the Sun from its full phase, now sitting at just over half illuminated,\u201d Smadi tells PetaPixel.<\/p>\n

Despite the two objects looking similar in size, the 135 million-kilometer (84 million-mile) distance between them makes for a trick of perspective. In reality, Venus is roughly the same size as Earth, while the ISS is roughly the width of a football stadium. <\/p>\n

To execute the photograph, Smadi had to plan his shot meticulously. An alignment of Venus and the ISS from the Earth\u2019s perspective is a rare event, so Smadi had to plan his vantage point in advance \u2014 measured down to the exact meter. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe ISS travels at a mind-boggling 7.5 kilometers per second<\/a>, making it very hard to photograph,\u201d Smadi explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cThankfully, by shooting at just 1\/150 of a second exposure, I got 10 frames in my uncompressed video, and stacked them to reveal as much detail as possible.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"ASmadi\u2019s setup. <\/p>\n

Smadi used a 9.25-inch Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope that has a focal length of 2,350mm. The camera was a ZWO ASI662MC that uses Sony\u2019s IMX662 sensor. He also used a UV\/IR filter to block out ultraviolet and infrared light. <\/p>\n

Smadi has lined up the ISS and another planet, Saturn<\/a>, before. Saturn is much further away than Venus, roughly 1.39 billion kilometers (863.7 million miles). <\/p>\n

<\/blockquote>\n

Smadi has also captured the ISS from Earth in impressive detail<\/a>. Despite the spacecraft orbiting 250 miles above Earth, he was able to get a decent view of it. <\/p>\n

Smadi has captured objects and events happening deep in the solar system before, including an eclipse that happened on Saturn.<\/a> <\/p>\n

More of Smadi\u2019s work can be found on his Instagram<\/a> and Reddit<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Image creditsAJ Smadi.<\/p>\n