Unbelievable! Astrophotographer spots spacewalking astronauts from the ground

Sebastian Voltmer, an astrophotographer, was able to get a picture of the spacewalk action from the ground.

New Delhi: Raja Chari of NASA and Matthias Maurer of the European Space Agency spent nearly seven hours outside the International Space Station completing various maintenance tasks.

Sebastian Voltmer, an astrophotographer, was able to get a picture of the spacewalk action from the ground — and from Maurer’s hometown of Sankt Wendel, Germany, no less.

“Yesterday I witnessed the #spacewalk shortly after sunset. Here comes a first photo. #ESA #astronaut Matthias Maurer was just ‘climbing’ at this moment. The rod-shaped structure (Canadarm2) is the robot arm. Greetings from Matthias Maurer’s hometown — it was very exciting. #iss,” Voltmer tweeted on Thursday (March 24).

As Voltmer points out in the annotated image he uploaded on Twitter alongside the above explanation, Maurer is visible in the International Space Station image. Voltmer added, “And so is Chari,” in a Sunday tweet, after spending a little more time to scrutinise the photo with the help of photographer Phillip Smith.

Voltmer commented on SpaceWeather.com, which included the photo in its online gallery, “I feel like I just made a once-in-a-lifetime photograph.” “It’s likely the first ground-based image of two spacewalkers on the International Space Station at the same time.”

To capture the photo, Voltmer utilised a Celestron 11-inch EdgeHD telescope on a GM2000 HPS mount with an ASI290 planetary camera, according to an email he sent to Space.com. More of his art may be found on his Instagram profile, and you can discover more about him here.