July 20, 2004
On your birthday, the Earth completed another orbit — 584 million miles traveled since your last celebration.
Space Station, Venus, Sun
Birthday · July 20, 2004
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published July 20, 2004. Credit: Tomas Maruska (SAAD). A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
On June 8, Venus was not the only celestial object to pass in front of the Sun. A few well-situated photographers caught the International Space Station also crossing the Sun simultaneously. Pictured above is a unique time-lapse image of the unprecedented double transit, a rare event that was visible for less than a second from a narrow band on Earth. The above image is a combination of 12 frames taken 0.033 seconds apart and each themselves lasting only 1/10,000 th of a second. The image was taken from the small village of Stupava in Slovakia. The next time Venus will appear to cross the Sun from Earth will be in 2012. News: Today is the 35th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing.
Image credit: Tomas Maruska (SAAD)