The stars aligned for a London based amateur astronomer, who managed to catch a shot of the International Space Station passing in front of the moon under the perfect conditions, with epic results.

Spotting ISS’s lunar crossings is extremely rare, making the close-up footage of the vessel’s swift passage particularly remarkable. While other amateurs have captured similar crossings, Szabolcs Nagy’s clip is incredibly close and clear, showing the manned satellite streaking through the center of the frame.

Beautiful ISS lunar transit today afternoon at 16:43. Got really lucky with clouds, it was a gamble though, kind of racing with clouds.Took enough videos for lunar mosaic picture as well.https://t.co/BsRUFKUsdg@Space_Station#Astrophotography@VirtualAstro#Moon#Lunarpic.twitter.com/20Lxx8hnVo — Szabolcs Nagy (@metrolinaszabi) February 10, 2019

While rewarding, shooting sharp images of objects hundreds of thousands of miles from Earth is no easy task. The Hungarian born star-gazer is well aware of the patience required to catch a good glimpse of the heavens, spending a good part of his free-time peaking through high-powered telescopes.

“Circumstances must be perfect – Moon high in the sky, appropriate ISS pass, good light conditions, good weather conditions, etc,” Nagy explains on his website. Despite the complex factors required to make sure the image of the station remained visible and didn’t blend into the background, his photo-skills proved as sharp as his timing.

“Life is the best director – I could not have found any better place for imaging, it all happened according to my expectations,” Nagy added.

The International Space Station orbits 250 miles from the earth, and is currently staffed by 3 astronauts.

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