Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2025 July 18
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                              ISS Meets Saturn
                 Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]A.J. Smadi

   Explanation: [5]This month, bright planet Saturn rises in evening
   skies, its rings oriented nearly edge-on when viewed from planet Earth.
   And in the early morning hours on July 6, it posed very briefly with
   the [6]International Space Station when viewed from a location in
   Federal Way, Washington, USA. This well-planned image, a stack of video
   frames, captures their momentary conjunction in the same telescopic
   field of view. With the ISS in [7]low Earth orbit, space station and
   gas giant planet were separated by almost 1.4 billion kilometers. Their
   apparent sizes are comparable but the [8]ISS was much brighter than
   Saturn and the ringed planet's brightness has been [9]increased for
   visibility in the stacked image. Precise timing and an exact location
   were needed to [10]capture the ISS/Saturn conjunction.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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    Authors & editors: [22]Robert Nemiroff ([23]MTU) & [24]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([25]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Amber Straughn [26]Specific rights apply.
            [27]NASA Web Privacy, [28]Accessibility, [29]Notices;
                A service of: [30]ASD at [31]NASA / [32]GSFC,
                         [33]NASA Science Activation
                           & [34]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2507/ISSMeetsSaturn3.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. https://www.instagram.com/aj.smadi/
   5. https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/skywatching/whats-up-july-2025-skywatching-tips-from-nasa/
   6. https://www.nasa.gov/spot-the-station/
   7. https://www.nasa.gov/missions/station/iss-research/observing-our-planet-from-low-earth-orbit/
   8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2507/ISSMeetsSaturn4.jpg
   9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2507/ISSMeetsSaturn1_1024.jpg
  10. https://www.instagram.com/p/DLxajHXRI6w/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==&img_index=1
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250717.html
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  15. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  17. https://apod.com/feed.rss
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  20. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=250718
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250719.html
  22. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  23. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  24. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  25. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  27. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  28. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/
  29. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/
  30. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  31. https://www.nasa.gov/
  32. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  33. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  34. http://www.mtu.edu/