Space Station Crosses Moon's Face in Stunning Photo

Alexander Krivenyshev of WorldTimeZone.com captured this view of the International Space Station transiting the face of the nearly full moon from Edgewater, New Jersey, on Oct. 4, 2017. (Image credit: Alexander Krivenyshev, WorldTimeZone.com)

The International Space Station (ISS) crosses the face of the nearly full moon in a gorgeous composite image snapped by astrophotographer Alexander Krivenyshev.

Krivenyshev, president of WorldTimeZone.com, took the pictures comprising the composite from Edgewater, New Jersey, on Wednesday night (Oct. 4), a day before the Harvest Moon took full effect. [The Moon: 10 Surprising Facts]

The ISS was silhouetted against the lunar disk for a mere 0.86 seconds Wednesday night, according to Krivenyshev, who has also captured the station transiting the face of the sun.

The Harvest Moon is the full moon closest on the calendar to the beginning of autumn; it therefore usually comes in September. (The autumnal equinox occurs between Sept. 21 and Sept. 24, depending on the year.) Before Thursday (Oct. 5), there hadn't been an October Harvest Moon since 2009, according to Space.com skywatching columnist Joe Rao.

Six crewmembers currently live aboard the $100 billion ISS, which zips around Earth at an average altitude of 250 miles (400 kilometers). They are NASA astronauts Randy Bresnik, Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba; cosmonauts Sergey Ryazansky and Alexander Misurkin; and the European Space Agency's Paolo Nespoli.

Editor's note: If you have an amazing photo of the full moon or any other night-sky sight that you'd like to share with us and our news partners for a possible story or image gallery, send images and comments to: spacephotos@space.com.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.