Highlight from NASA: The Moon and the International Space Station come together in today’s astronomical picture

The largest satellites on Earth are shown in the image that NASA has highlighted on the website today’s picture This Monday (12). In one photo, you find the Moon and the International Space Station (ISS) together.

In the image below, you will see that the International Space Station is pictured right next to the moon. It may seem that the laboratory and the natural satellite are close, but in fact, both are separated by tens of thousands of kilometers.

The International Space Station is located almost in low Earth orbit, completing an orbit around the planet every 90 minutes, staying at an altitude of about 400 km. The moon is located at an average distance of 384,400 km from Earth, and it takes about a month to revolve around our planet.

You can see that both of them are quite far from us, right? But none of that was a problem for the photographer, who was able to capture details of the lunar surface and craters. It is also possible to see some details about the structure of the International Space Station, such as solar panels.

What are satellites?

When thinking of satellites, it is common to remember the artificial objects we launch into Earth’s orbit. However, it is important to remember that they are not limited by this definition alone. In fact, any moon or planet – and of course the machines – orbiting a star or a world are considered satellites.

Therefore, we can say that the Moon is a natural satellite, because it revolves around the Earth. Still in this logic, our planet and others in the solar system can also be considered satellites, because they all revolve around the sun.

Satellites, such as the International Space Station, are launched to orbit Earth or other worlds. Those in Earth orbit, for example, can gather data faster than instruments on Earth and can be used for scientific research, communications, and navigation, among other purposes.

source: APOD