NASA photo shows International Space Station transiting the sun

Oct. 10 (UPI) -- The International Space Station orbits the Earth once every 93 minutes. The satellite's orbital path regularly takes ISS across the face of the moon and sun.

Recently, photographer Joel Kowsky documented the space station's trip across the face of the sun. Kowsky combined the photographs into a composite image, featuring the space station's silhouette, backlit by the orange sun.

On Wednesday, NASA shared the composite image online.

The space station circles Earth at an average speed of 17,227 miles per hour, which means its trip across the distant sun's face lasts just a few seconds. Typically, photographers have to know ahead of time when and where to look to document an ISS transit.

Online space station transit trackers can help photographers and amateur astronomers get the timing correct.

Last week, a trio of space station crew members departed ISS and safely returned to Earth. On Thursday, two new crew members, Nick Hague of NASA and Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos, will begin their trip to the space station. The duo are scheduled to blast-off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.