Ok, I rarely do plugs like this, but I found multiple references to these photos on Stumble Upon and they are truly amazing. I’m sure I won’t be the only one. Voyez plutôt.

Thierry Legault, a French (cocorico) astrophotographer, has managed to take incredible photos of the space shuttle Atlantis during its transit in the company of Hubble in front of the sun.

He shoots with photo and astronomy gear that is quite beyond my understanding, except for the Canon 5D Mark II, camera of my dreams. The pictures were taken from Florida a few days ago, and they leave me speechless. Imagine that the transit durations were 0.8 seconds for the image of Atlantis and Hubble on his web site (altitude: 600 km) and 0.3 seconds for the image below which is a crop (altitude: 250 km)! Go visit his site, it’s well worth it.

Of course, Thierry could use the help of a good web designer, mais, bon, personne n’est parfait… ;-)