Coolest Photo Taken in the History of EVER

An amateur astronomer named Thierry Legault took this unbelievable photo of the Space Shuttle Atlantis silhouetted by our massive sun -- and you won't believe what it took to get the shot.

Space Shuttle

The shuttle (which is only 37m long and has a 24m wingspan) was traveling 17,500 mph at 350 miles above the Earth's surface -- and Lagault says he only had .8 seconds to get the shot. The sun looms in the background a mere 91 million miles away.

We're not going to get into what kind of equipment, settings and preparation it took -- because we're too busy staring at the pic to get into it. But you can check out another amazing shot on the dude's website.



Tags: astronomy, space, space shuttle atlantis, SpaceShuttleAtlantis, sun

Reader Comments

(Page 5 of 5) Previous 15 Comments

61. uummm so we are supposed to believe that the sun looks exactly like a yellow balloon? something doesn't jive, sorry

Posted at 2:39AM on May 16th 2009 by pixiebell

62. Come on people... it is not Photoshop. I saw this the other day at spaceweather.com as well. If you've ever seen any images of the sun before, you would know it can indeed look just like that. For $600 you can even buy yourself a solar telescope and see similar things. RIght now there's not much solar activity either, like one sun spot. See current sun conditions on spaceweather

Posted at 7:31AM on May 16th 2009 by DMennenoh

63. Amazing! Makes you realize what a real lens can do

Posted at 9:30AM on May 16th 2009 by Boxer12

64. # 11/purple smurf,
love it!

i know exactly what you mean when you speak of a "sky god". way too many people follow/worship this type of a god. if you ask me, things would be a whole lot better in this world, if people updated their thinking when referring to "god".

at some point, if we are ever going to survive at all, the idea of a temperamental, paternal, punishing and tribal deity has to be abandoned and replaced with more modern views.
by taking baby steps and gaining knowledge and understanding of the evolution and age of the cosmos, along with the most basic understanding of physics, this will indeed go a long way to guiding people to a richer and more fulfilling type of "spirituality" and hopefully, the desire to improve relations within our world and a new and determined path to ensure the health and longevity of the planet we share.

("spirituality"not to be confused with religion, being religious or any organized and ancient belief system)

Posted at 12:27PM on May 16th 2009 by chrisa

65. check out the Nasa website, this photo is authentic.

Posted at 1:27PM on May 16th 2009 by lola_uk

66. c'mon people, it is not photo shopped, it is awesome. now take your conspiracy filled heads outta your asses and appreciate it for the sheer beauty and wondrousness of it all.

if anything, the utter vastness of our universe and the amazing tapestry of images that have been collected to date via the hubble, should make folks put the petty little dramas in their lives into perspective.

Posted at 11:05AM on May 17th 2009 by chrisa

67. UHHH.... this was on NASA's website a few days ago..... with a bunch of other pics just like that! IT WAS TAKEN FROM THE HUBBLE!!!!

Posted at 3:36PM on May 16th 2009 by Heather

68. The sun is 93 million miles away genius.

Posted at 9:22PM on May 16th 2009 by chatch

69. IT WAS NOT TAKEN BY THE HUBBLE!!! It was taken by a land based telescope!! Check out the full image and story. This is a tightly cropped photo. Another picture includes the Hubble. It would be hard for the Hubble to take a picture like this of ITSELF!!!
Transiting the Sun
In this tightly cropped image, the NASA space shuttle Atlantis is seen in silhouette during solar transit, Tuesday, May 12, 2009, from Florida. This image was made before Atlantis and the crew of STS-125 had grappled the Hubble Space Telescope.

The phtographer made this image using a solar-filtered Takahashi 5-inch refracting telescope and a Canon 5D Mark II digital camera.


http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1354.html

Posted at 12:12AM on May 17th 2009 by Brewster

70. God is real...glorious...he shows us all the time...

and yet you disbelieve...

you will remember this moment of doubt and HE will remind you...

HE says we are to come to HIM like children...

who look in wonderment and awe and trust...

yet you will not see with your hearts...

Alpha and Omega Beginning and End

Posted at 11:36AM on May 17th 2009 by jacqueline

71. I'm skeptical, but if it is real...an amazing shot!

Side note: The commander's mom was one of my teachers (Sharon Altman).

Posted at 3:49AM on May 18th 2009 by Me

72. I dare any of you skeptics to take a telescope and look at the Sun without any filters, then come back when you lost all your eyesight because the bright light burned your retina and everything in it to a crisp. I can find plenty of pics of the Sun looking like this in any astronomy-related book or website. You merely need special filters to block out the massive light. With the proper protection (and I am NOT talking about sunglasses), you can even look directly at the Sun and not go blind.

To make a long story short: this photo is real, as are the rest on that guy's site.

Posted at 2:11AM on May 19th 2009 by AO

73. thats a lot of crap. Thats a lemon with a black mark on it. How stupid can people be.

Posted at 9:54PM on May 24th 2009 by alan

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