As the moon snuck in front of the sun during Monday’s total solar eclipse, a NASA photographer captured an once-in-a-lifetime sight. Joel Kowsky, one of the space agency’s photo editors, was in Banner, Wyoming, to watch the solar eclipse when he photographed the International Space Station zooming in front of a crescent sun.
Below is a video Kowsky recorded using a high-speed camera that recorded 1,500 frames per second. He also photographed the ISS with a standard camera. Such high-speed recording is necessary because the ISS is roughly the size of a football field, orbits Earth from 250 miles up, and moves at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour.
To capture such a fast-moving object from the right angle not only requires months or years of planning, but also a lot of luck.