Stunning Image Captures The International Space Station Aligned With Jupiter

A Washington-based astrophotographer has successfully captured a rare, precise alignment that places the International Space Station (ISS) directly alongside Jupiter. The striking image, taken just moments before sunrise, highlights an unusual optical phenomenon where the massive gas giant and the orbiting laboratory appear nearly identical in size.

Two Years of Precise Planning

For photographer AJ Smadi, the shot was the culmination of nearly two years of rigorous calculations and patient observation. Capturing the ISS in such proximity to a distant planet requires extreme precision, as the station’s rapid orbital speed means even a minor miscalculation in location can ruin the alignment.

Smadi trekked to a remote spot near Burlington, Washington, north of Seattle, to position himself directly within the narrow path required to view the station passing by the planet. “Every month or so for the past couple years, I would check the ISS’s path across the sky and see if it would be close enough to any planets that I could align them from within Washington State,” he told PetaPixel.

“At precisely 6:03 AM PDT, the International Space Station zipped directly past the gas giant Jupiter. After I carefully calculated the exact location from which to observe the transit, I managed to capture both objects in a single frame.”

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The successful capture occurred at 6:03 AM PDT, freezing a moment where the station’s trajectory crossed the field of view containing the solar system’s largest planet.

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The Physics of Perspective

The visual harmony of the image is driven by the principle of angular diameter. While Jupiter is physically 1.3 million times wider than the ISS, it is also roughly 1.3 million times further away. This mathematical coincidence allows both objects to occupy nearly identical space in the viewer’s perspective.

Beyond the station and the planet, the high-resolution capture also includes detail of the four Galilean moons—Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto—visible alongside Jupiter’s characteristic atmospheric cloud bands.

Advanced Hardware for Orbital Imaging

To achieve this level of detail, Smadi utilized a 9.25-inch Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, which boasts a 2,350-millimeter focal length. The setup was equipped with a ZWO ASI662MC camera, utilizing a Sony IMX662 sensor to capture the light. A specialized UV/IR-cut filter was also integrated to refine the image clarity by narrowing the light spectrum hitting the sensor.

The photograph is part of an ongoing personal project titled “ISS Meets,” in which Smadi tracks the station’s movements against major planetary bodies. Having already successfully captured the ISS alongside Venus, Saturn, and Mars, his remaining goals include adding Mercury, Uranus, and Neptune to his collection. The latest accomplishment serves as a vivid reminder of the immense scale of the cosmos, juxtaposed against the small, human-operated outpost that orbits our world.