Photos from tonight's very bright ISS pass

It was quite windy so I wasn't going to try to take photos of the magnitude -3.3 ISS pass tonight, but at the last moment changed my mind. So it was a rushed setup, plus I was trying to let a few people know via social media. So these photos are heavily cropped to remove a neighbour's treetops, as this was the only place I was semi-sheltered from the wind. And just 10 second shots too, due to the near full moon.

But interesting nonetheless. The first shot was as the space station was passing the Orion Constellation. Those are red supergiants Aldebaran in bottom left and Betelguese in bottom centre. Orion's belt and sword centre top. The stars in those are clearly blue, meaning they are extremely hot. Type O blue stars are typically >33,000 degrees, against Sol's 5770 degrees. (The middle one of the sword is actually the Orion Nebula.)



Tricky shooting straight into the moon! Had to boost the black and the contrast to counter the moon's wash-out. That's Betelguese again top centre-left.

Related articles

• Take a full tour of the International Space Station with former Commander Suni Williams
• Clear skies, no moon and a 14" telescope made for great viewing last night. With photos!
• How much water really is there on Spaceship Earth?