Photo: E+
An astrophotographer pointed his camera up at the night sky and captured a spectacular picture of the International Space Station passing in front of the moon.
Thierry Legault, an engineer and astrophotographer who lives in Paris, snapped the photo on January 18 after traveling 155 miles to a remote spot in the countryside of France. He spent about a half-hour looking for the perfect place to set up his gear.
Legault started his astronomical video camera, recording 10 to 15 seconds before he anticipated the crossing, and used the space station transit-finder.com to help locate it.
The International Space Station travels about 17,000 mph or 5 miles per second, so he only had a half-second to get the shot.
Legault didn't know what he captured until he reviewed upwards of 400 frames that were taken that night. The image he captured is among the most detailed snapshots ever taken of the space station passing in front of the moon.