NASA releases incredible image showing International Space Station passing the sun

Space agency NASA has released this stunning image that shows the International Space Station (ISS) passing the Sun.

The composite image is made of out of 10 frames and shows the silhouette of the station passing in front of the fiery star.

NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Peggy Whitson, Russian cosmonauts Andrey Borisenko, Sergey Ryzhikov, and Oleg Novitskiy, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet are all on board the ISS as it orbits the Earth.

And while we may have seen images of the artificial satellite in space before, it is not often that we get to see it with such a dramatic backdrop.

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The ISS was travelling at five miles per second while the pictures were taken from Newbury Park in California on Saturday.

This is not the first time the ISS has been pictured in such a stunning light.

In May, French astrophotographer Thierry Legault captured the Station in the same frame as Mercury while it passed the Sun – an event that occurs only around 13 times every century.

He said of his work: “The International Space Station can be seen quite often and there are many more things to see.

“It is just a case of looking up at the right time.”

Top pic: NASA