A photographer captured an image of the International Space Station silhouetted against the sun.
Jamie Cooper, 52, realized it was expected to be visible over his home in Whilton, near Daventry, Northamptonshire, on June 17.
He recorded its “complete transit” across the sun at 10:22 BST, an event that lasted less than a second, using a telescope and high-speed video camera.
“This was an opportunity not to be missed,” he said.
Cooper, a professional photographer 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 the sun are all in a straight line and it’s about three miles wide,” he said.
“I checked the data three days earlier and I was going to lose my house, I checked the day before and it was going to be over my house, so I was lucky.”
The space station was about 250 miles (400 km) away when it was over his house and traveling at about 17,000 mph (27,300 km).
Cooper said his very high-speed video camera was filming at 80 frames per second, compared to a normal camera speed of 25 frames.
He added: “It is important to say that I use a specialized telescope with a filter because you should never look at the sun without a filter – it can lead to permanent blindness.”
