It’s difficult to capture images of the International Space Station (ISS) from here on the ground. Observed from below, the space station travels at a speed of 17,500 mph (28,000 km/h) and appears as a tiny speck of light. Imagine that small speck flying over the Colosseum and you’ll understand why this is a once-in-a-lifetime photograph. The Virtual Telescope Project is a robotic observatory operated by astrophysicist Gianluca Masi that allows people to observe the sky in real-time from around the world.
Masi captured the rare image of the ISS passing through the largest amphitheater in the world on December 6 in collaboration with the Parco Archeologico del Colosseo. In the resulting image, the amphitheater is shown in a circle over which the space station transits, forming a long streak of white light. Masi shared the unique image on Twitter, sharing the caption, ‘#GiornataNazionaledelloSpazio: here it is one of the events by @ParcoColosseo and @VirtualTelescop, sharing the transit of the @Space_Station above the legendary Colosseum. A unique image’.
#GiornataNazionaledelloSpazio: here it is one of the events by @ParcoColosseo and @VirtualTelescop, sharing the transit of the @Space_Station above the legendary Colosseum. A unique image @astro_matthias @AstroMarshburn @Astro_Sabot @Astro_Raja
?more: https://t.co/OQCdrqUwVM pic.twitter.com/1C4EwmoX4q
— Gianluca Masi (@masi_gianluca) December 16, 2021
In a statement to Cnet, Masi said, ‘Looking at the starry sky, with those thousand-year-old walls embracing the ancient constellations and the passing, modern ISS, was an experience that will never be forgotten’. Masi also released a more detailed version of the same picture that featured the constellations of Pegasus through Ursa Minor.
The crossover of the 2,000-year-old ancient Colosseum and the International Space Station, which has been in orbit for more than 20 years, is a historical moment that illustrates the advancement of science and the evolution of mankind. In April, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe made history when it became the first spacecraft to ever ‘touch’ the sun. In the process, the spacecraft plunged into the unexplored solar atmosphere, the corona.
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‘The new milestone marks one major step for Parker Solar Probe and one giant leap for solar science. Just as landing on the Moon allowed scientists to understand how it was formed, touching the very stuff the Sun is made of will help scientists uncover critical information about our closest star and its influence on the solar system,’ NASA said in a statement.
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