Cool photo: Space Shuttle Atlantis transiting Sun

16 Responses to Cool photo: Space Shuttle Atlantis transiting Sun

1. Andrew, medievalist says:

   15 May 2009 at 5:00 pm

   Dixitque Deus: “Fiat lux”. Et facta est lux … Dixit autem Deus: “Fiant luminaria in firmamento caeli” … Et factum est ita.

   Ante creationem Dei, vere, humilimur.
2. DG says:

   15 May 2009 at 6:11 pm

   I hope this wasn’t another costly photo op from the Obama administration.

   ;)
3. Mark says:

   15 May 2009 at 6:33 pm

   Fake! If the “shuttle” really ever made it past the atmosphere/sphere of fire, it would have crashed into the sphere of Mercury and been destroyed. Sorry, but Reason should triumph over this sort of sensationalistic nonsense. Cool, but…FAKE!
4. Emilio III says:

   15 May 2009 at 6:58 pm

   Why would it be fake? Looks like a high-magnification picture of the sun with the shuttle in the foreground. Compare the size of the shuttle with the radius of the sun and you can see that it is nowhere near the sun.
5. Paul the Other says:

   15 May 2009 at 7:05 pm

   I thought the sphere of Mercury was repulsive in nature. In fact adjacent spheres must be of opposite polarity, otherwise the spheres would … aagag gagag g ggagag

   BWAAAAH HAH HAH HAH HAH !!!!! BWAAAAAAAAH HAH HAH HAH !!!!
6. Unofficial Institute of Christ the King Blog says:

   15 May 2009 at 7:31 pm

   Yes, I’m afraid Mark is right. I bet it’s quite hot near the Sun. But let’s not forget that in heaven, God’s love for us is hotter than the damning fire in hell :-)
7. Unofficial Institute of Christ the King Blog says:

   15 May 2009 at 7:39 pm

   What’s that your captcha keeps having me type? Think then post? … the website said “The space shuttle’s silhouette was beautifully outlined by solar fire as Atlantis passed over central Florida.”

   So the shuttle need not have been that close to the Sun, but that is cool though, it really gives you an idea of how God worked everything out so well!
8. Maureen says:

   15 May 2009 at 8:42 pm

   In the Solar System’s biggest church, the deacon has to use transportation to get back from the ambo.
9. Shuttle Fan says:

   15 May 2009 at 9:58 pm

   Lord you people are idiots. The shuttle never leaves low earth orbit. That is, it never gets closer to the Sun than the Earth is, which is 93 million miles. This is just a picture of the shuttle outlined against the sun as it passes overhead. Not fake. You probably also believe the Earth is flat and 6000 years old and astronauts did not land on the moon. Get an education.
10. wsxyz says:

    15 May 2009 at 10:44 pm

    Why would anyone doubt that the astronauts landed on the moon, as long as you stay on the near side, at least, because that way you don’t have to penetrate the sphere and you stay on the atmospheric side where you can breathe.
11. Mark says:

    15 May 2009 at 11:12 pm

    No one is claiming it got near the sun! There are at least 3 crystalline spheres between us and the sun that would stop it. At least, according to the cosmology endorsed by Holy Mother Church for 1600 years (which always believed the Earth was round, countrary to black legends). And 1600 years of tradition and the testimony of Aquinas and Dante and the likes is good enough for me. Otherwise we might as well allow innovations like communion on the hand. Golly, you arent telling us all you believe in all that Galileo and Copernicus nonsense!?! They were bigger heretics than Luther himself, in fact their heresy is where we get the infamous term “revolution”…
12. Nuggen says:

    16 May 2009 at 12:40 am

    THAT is soooo neat! What a clever idea and great shot!

    For those who thinks it’s fake…you know the moon avoids a collision with Mercury and manages not to burn up during those solar eclipses too…
13. Mark says:

    16 May 2009 at 5:19 am

    Mark, my namesake: I honestly hope you are joking. All excisting space agencies have sent probes to the Sun, the Mercury and Venus. Probes have photographed the other side of the Moon and have flown by or orbited all others planets. New Horizons is on its way to Pluto. The solar system is quite traversable providing there is enough fuel available.

    Saint Thomas Aquinas was a wise man and has much to say that is wise and should be taken to heart. However, his knowledge of space, like his contemporaries, was simply not accurate. Far from it.

    Back on topic: this is a great photo. There is another one with the shuttle closing in on Hubble, taken by the same photographer.
14. Jake says:

    16 May 2009 at 10:05 am

    When is the best time for an astronaut to land on the sun? Night time!
15. C. says:

    16 May 2009 at 3:50 pm

    When I saw this picture, I thought, “Wow, I never before internalized how Big the Sun was.” Then I realized that, in this photo, the Shuttle is still 93,000,000 miles away from the Sun whereas the Shuttle is only 350 miles above us.

    How immense is our God and how great His Creation!
16. Diego says:

    17 May 2009 at 11:45 pm

    Another similar great photo was taken some time ago.
    The shuttle was getting closer to ISS, just passing through the sun: http://www.skynyx.fr/legault/iss_atlantis_transit.html