This stunning photo of the ISS passing between Jupiter and Saturn was shot on film
Dec 23, 2020
Dunja Đuđić
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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The great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn has been all over the news over the last few days. And if you were lucky enough to have clear skies, you could have observed it or take some photos. Photographer Jason De Freitas used this rare opportunity to take some photos, and he created something quite unique. He managed to capture the ISS trail between Jupiter and Saturn during the conjunction – and he did it on film.
“I had the incredible luck of figuring out I could see the path of the International Space Station travelling through the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction,” Jason says. It took him some serious planning to get this shot And then on 17 December, he took a one-hour drive to the exact spot where he would see the ISS travelling between the two planets.
The photo was taken at Jellore Lookout, Mittagong, Australia, at precisely 21:53:05, at a 10s exposure. Jason used his Pentax 67 paired with the Takumar 600mm f/4 lens with a roll of Fujifilm Provia 100f inside. For tracking, he used the Skywatcher NEQ6 equatorial mount. And here’s the incredible photo that he took:
Jason says that this is probably the most unique shot he’s ever taken. And I sure know that it’s the most unique shot of the great conjunction that I’ve seen so far. If you’d like to get a print, you can order one through Jason’s web store. And make sure to check out his website and Instagram for more of his fantastic work.
[via PetaPixel]
Dunja Đuđić
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, concerts, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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26 responses to “This stunning photo of the ISS passing between Jupiter and Saturn was shot on film”
I’m pretty sure that the scientists who foretold the date, timeframe and location in the sky of this conjunction would have also known if the ISS would be appearing to pass between Jupiter and Saturn, as well as when it would happen. In addition, the moon is currently in its first quarter phase, which makes it appear as a half moon, not a crescent. And take a closer look at the moon in this picture.
The article says the shot was taken on Dec 17th. That probably explains the moon phase discrepancy.
Larry, thank you for taking the time to point that out, I stand corrected. I’m sure his notoriety will be long lasting.
I’m pretty sure you don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. Determining when the conjunction would happen doesn’t automatically tell you from where on earth a totally unrelated object like the ISS will be seen as passing between the planets, without specifically trying to figure that out.
Also, the conjunction date would have been known by modern astronomy, probably for a couple hundred years. It may have even been predicted much further back by earlier civilizations who were good at tracking the sky, like the Mayans.
But what really makes you a dumbass is that the story itself says that the photo was taken on the 17th, which explains the phase of the moon. No one claimed that the photo was taken right at the moment of conjunction. For an event like this, a few days on either side doesn’t make any difference… except for exposing that you didn’t really read the article.
I have pictures taken in July, December 17th and December 22nd (it was cloudy here on the 21st). Saturn is smaller in all my pictures and in July was much further west of Jupiter. On Dec 17th Saturn was still west of Jupiter. On the 22nd Saturn was East of Jupiter. I also took pictures of the moon. It does appear that the picture combines a moon picture from the 17th with the Jupiter and Saturn picture from the 22nd to me. However, it could be the picture is “flipped” because from my vantage point the crescent moon was on the right not the left of the rest of the moon. So in that case the picture would be accurate as of the 17th if flipped.
The photographer is in Australia, so he was standing upside down relative to you. That’s why it’s flipped.
Hi Jon. I completely missed the date in the article. Thanks for pointing it out along with Larry. The human that I am clearly isn’t without flaws. Thankfully, the Lord I believe in doesn’t write me off as the dumbass some other Lord has.
Handheld and I got the rings of Saturn.
it burns when i pee, is this normal?
For a rat bastard like yourself, yes.
You really should not try to light it.
https://genius.com/Frank-zappa-why-does-it-hurt-when-i-pee-lyrics
The photo checks out per Stellarium for 12/17/20, 20:54:58 local time.
Thanks, I was just about to check that….use that prog constantly!
ISS is 254 miles from Earth. Jupiter is 552 million miles from Earth. Saturn is 1 billion miles from Earth. At no point did the ISS every pass between Jupiter and Saturn. Are photographers really this stupid?
Umm… it’s called “field of vision”?
Ooo, someone is jealous.
Are you really this stupid? Everyone knows they were close in our field of view, not physically. Or at least everyone but you.
Two dots with a line drawn in between, that’s bigly covfefe!
Magnificent setup and shot sir.
Very nice. I often track ISS in my 8″ scope, and watched the conjunction on 12/21. Nice that you put it all together, though I know you were tracking the conjunction, not ISS.
Well done Jason de Freitas, my new photography hero!
OK, guess I’m about to learn if this community is open to uninitiated, skeptical outsiders who, willing to take leaps of certain lengths if this scientificassembly can provide – in layman’s language – a description of just how such a photo can indeed be taken (from earth) with a Pentax camera?
I read about the ‘expanding universe’, the methods of measurement, and ask how they (scientists) can be so damned sure there aren’t distortions of all the elements relied upon (by such considerations as a different form of matter, as a possibility, say, in the range of thousands of light years away).
Even though these items (Saturn, Jupiter) are within galactic spitting distance (relatively speaking) from where we are, can we really get such images from this speck that sits on the point of a needle piercing through a thread floating in our solar space.
Or am I just reading a bunch of hope-filled, faith-based projections of what people WANT to believe to be true?
I’m babbling as best I can trying to sound intelligent – but believe me.. I am looking for answers here. Just expanding dramatically to highlight the skepticism.
Huh?
ONE of my points is that it takes a certain leap of faith to believe all these “expanding universe” propositions.
This seems to require less than such lengthy leaps, but still, “Can such a picture really be garnered using a simple Pentax camera?”
Wow, that was close! Good thing they didn’t run into Jupiter or Saturn!