One to 30 Milion Shot – annotated
This forenoon on 8 June 2026, I got extremely lucky in Prasek, Czech Republic. I captured a plane and the International Space Station in front of the Sun at the same time (same shot). It was not planned. And the chance was truly extremely low. Knowing the angular size of the Sun, the duration of transit (only 0,67 second), and the large area across which the plane traveled, I calculated the shot’s required luck of about 1:30,000,000. So what are the odds? Pretty much like that. Edit: The captured airplane was L-39 Skyfox training jet of Flight Training Center Pardubice and during the shot it was turned upside down, as I was informed later from the center, which recognized it.
Used Nikon Z6III, 10″ Dobsonian Telescope Flextube, 1.4 converter, ISO 1000, 1/16000s.
One to 30 Milion Shot
Plane and Space Station in front of the Sun on 8 June 2026 – annotated
Plane and Space Station in front of the Sun on 8 June 2026 – annotated
Sequence of images from central part of ISS transit to plane transit every 0,04s.
Details about ISS transit in front of the Sun on 8 June 2026 from Prasek. Source: Transit-Finder.com.
Map of ISS transit in front of the Sun on 8 June 2026 from Prasek. Source: Transit-Finder.com.
Can this be end? Actually, I was a little bit luckier, because between 4 and 8 June, there were three truly great ISS transits over the Czech Republic. I tried to capture all of them (4 June from Čepí, 6 June from Nové Hrady, 8 June from Prasek). All of them were incredibly lucky as the weather was unpredictable. You can also see changes in the positions of sunspots within the mentioned days (the largest one is AR 4455, responsible for several M-flares and X-flares those days) This is a composite image showing all of them, including the unbelievably rare double transit of jet and ISS in one moment.
Traffic in front of the Sun
