A photographer has captured an image of the International Space Station captured in front of the sun.

International Space Station captured travelling in front of sun

Jamie Cooper, 52, realised it was expected to be visible above his home in Whilton, near Daventry, Northamptonshire, on 17 June.

He shot its “entire transit” across the sun at 10:22 BST, an event which lasted less than a second, using a telescope and a high speed video camera.

Three cosmonauts and four astronauts are currently deployed on the station
Mr Cooper, a professional photographer International Space Station captured and keen amateur astronomer, said he was in the right place at the right time.

“There’s a very narrow band where you, the space station and sun are all in a straight line and it’s about three miles wide,” he said.

“I’d checked the data three days before and it was going to miss my house, I checked the day before and it was going to be over my house, so I was lucky.”

International Space Station against sun.

The high resolution camera has captured solar granulation from gas bubbles percolating on
The space station was about 250 miles (400km) away when above his house and travelling at about 17,000 mph (27,300km).

Mr Cooper said his very high speed video camera was shooting at 80 frames a second, compared to a normal camera speed of 25 frames.

He added: “It’s important to say I use a specialist telescope with a filter because you should never look at the sun without a filter – it can lead to permanent blindness.”

Source: BBC