Last night, photographers and stargazers from around the world were treated to the Great Conjunction, an event that saw Jupiter and Saturn appear closer to each other in the sky than they were hundreds of years ago. Numerous photos were shattered with a rare sight, but photographer Jason de Fritas caught a particularly lucky one a few days ago showing an ISS zip between the two planets.
When Jupiter and Saturn are seen together in the sky once every 20 years or more, the last time they were so close was during a great coincidence that they came back 4 March, 1226 or 794 years ago.
While planning to picture the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, de Fritas realized that he could also include ISS in the frame.
“I had the wonderful privilege of seeing the way to the International Space Station passing through the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction,” says De Fritas.
On Dec. 17, after D. de Fritas made a big plan, he ran for an hour – “a little gap in the plan of things,” he says – where everything would be perfectly arranged for his shots.
Around 9:54 p.m., from the Jaylor lookout in New South Wales, Australia, de Fritas pointed to the planets Pentax 67 and Takumar 600mm f / 4 and took 10 seconds of exposure to the Fujifilm Provia 100f film. The tracking was done with the SkyV cher vari NEQ6 equatorial mount.
What is the result in the photo above. Here is a close-up view in which you can see the planets and Jupiter’s moon more clearly:
De Fritas also used a Nikon D750 and a Tameron 70-200mm f / 2.8 to capture digital video of the event:
De Fritas says, “I’ve probably taken the most unique shot I’ve ever taken. “[S]Worked all night. Be thrilled by this.
“The timing of this was down to another and I still can’t believe I pulled it off.”
Earlier this year, De Fritas shared an interior look at how he shoots astro photography on a medium format film (and occasionally 35mm film). You can also find more work by De Fritas on their website and Instagram.
