New Zealand astrophotographer captures International Space Station passing over moon in rare event
Amateur photographer is amazed that he was able to capture ‘once in a lifetime event’
By Ryan Dunlop
An Auckland amateur astrophotographer has captured the International Space Station passing over the moon in a rare event he is calling “a once-in-a-lifetime shot”.
It was over in less than a second but Josh Kirkley says the photos captured by taking a video through his personal telescope may be a New Zealand first, and the first time the event has been captured since 2017.
“This really is a once-in-a-lifetime event, I’m super amazed and pleased that I managed to capture this.”
Kirkley caught the action from the driveway of his home in Onehunga and explained it was difficult to capture because the ISS travelled over 28,000km/h as it orbited the earth.
“It is roughly the size of an American football field, and orbits around 400km above us.”
“As for the Moon, it only takes up 0.00077 per cent of the night sky, an extremely small area relative to its size.”