I have a particular interest in satellite transits across the solar/lunar surfaces due to the opportunity they present the lucky observer to discern greater physical detail and structure as a result of their silhouette against the bright background of the sun and/or moon; the ability to restrict the satellite's location in the daytime or evening sky to an area measuring 0.5°x0.5° with little or no effort; it permits for the bypassing of satellite tracking which itself is a challenge due the very short period transits are visible during a particular overhead pass; and the difficulty in obtaining accurate and timely orbital elements and TLE's. As this "search and identify" project has literally become a DAILY ritual, I expect this web page to be updated constantly with more and more images of the very unique phenomena of satellite transits across the solar and/or lunar disks.

Note: The capture of a solar transit by the International Space Station was an incessant chase for 3-4 years and until July 28, 2005 when the ISS (with STS-114) was finally captured transiting against the Sun and which included the space shuttle Discovery. Approximately nine months later, the ISS was also caught transiting the rising moon (click here) albeit at a very low altitude. My best ISS transit capture occurred in 2018 when the ISS was at a range of 441.6 km away transiting the Sun once again whereas in 2010 I was able to also capture the ISS during the day transiting Jupiter at a range of 439.5 km as well as Mars at a range of 565.9 km.

The Moon in the photo below is approximately one day past full and is characterized with a phase of 98.74%, has a magnitude of -12.4 and an apparent diameter of 33.72 arc-minutes while lying at a distance of 358,795 km away and which is very close to the minimum (perigee) distance the Moon can attain during its elliptical orbit around Earth (see here).

The result below has the ISS transiting the lunar disk from the center right while over the northernmost edge of Mare Serenitatis (Sea of Tranquility) and continuing to travel towards the upper left with the ISS lying over the Apennine Mountain region and the landing area of Apollo 15 (middle instance) and, finally, just to the west of the bright impact crater Aristarchus and at the easternmost edge of Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains) (third instance, upper left).

For an exceptional catch precisely one month later involving the ISS transiting the Sun at a range of 551.4 km while subtending an angular diameter of 50.1 arc-seconds, click here.

Note: For a complete set of images captured so far involving satellite transits of both the Sun and Moon, click here.