South African Photographer Mitchell Krog on Sunday 30th of August 2009 captured the International Space Station (ISS) flying across the night skies of Southern Africa. Mitchell, an award-winning photographer and specialist in Astro-Photography had selected his location for the shoot several days beforehand and planned things well in advance. At 6:51pm, a time specified by the Johannesburg Planetarium, the ISS appeared as a bright yellow star low on the horizon and in a matter of a minute was already directly overhead and out of the frame. Through his past experiences with photographing astronomical events Mitchell had everything in place to pull of the image below which shows the International Space Station like a shooting star across the sky. Says Mitchell, the Space station was moving at an incredible speed and those people who did not take the time of viewing this event seriously would have missed it had they come outside a minute later. It moved across the sky from horizon to horizon in under 2 minutes. The conditions for this particular glimpse of the ISS were nothing short of perfect, the moon was currently waxing around a half moon phase giving just enough light to illuminate the foreground. The Space Station moved from the horizon in the S-S-W to the horizon in the N-E in approximately 2 minutes.
The International Space Station Fleeted Across the South African Night Skies on The 30th of August 2009 at 6:51pm. From Mitchell Krog's AstroPhotography Portfolio. (Copyright Mitchell Krog - All Rights Reserved)
