SERIOUSLY jaw-dropping pictures of Endeavour and the ISS! | Bad Astronomy

SERIOUSLY jaw-dropping pictures of Endeavour and the ISS! | Bad Astronomy: "

Thierry Legault is a wonder. His astrophotos and shots of orbiting satellites have graced this blog many, many times (see Related Posts below), but even so I get a thrill every time he sends me a note about new pictures. Wanna know why? Check this out: Endeavour docked on the International Space Station:

Holy. Haleakala! [Click to embiggen; note that the images shown here are also done with Emmanuel Rietsch.]

This may be the most amazing shot of an Orbiter and ISS I have ever seen! Oh… and did I mention this was taken from the ground? Yegads.

The detail is incredible; you can see features on Endeavour, the open payload bay doors, and all sorts of accoutrements on the station itself (including the newly-installed the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-2). This picture actually shows three frames from a video; as the ISS and Orbiter pass overhead their angle to the ground changes, and you can see that in the sequence. The video itself is embedded on his website, and you have to see it to ...

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