The Big Picture: Sunny Days Ahead

Summary form only given, as follows. From the ground, the International Space Station’s transits of the sun take a half second to complete. Nevertheless, this stitched-together shot from June captured seven distinct moments in that half-second journey. The massive solar panels are visible on each side of the station—some of which have been in operation since 2000. At the time of this transit, astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet were installing the first two of six new and better solar-panel arrays. These “rollout solar arrays” can be rolled up for easy storage and transport and unfurled for deployment. They’re also smaller and more power efficient than the ISS’s existing, rigid arrays. When they’re all installed by the end of 2022, the six rollout solar arrays should boost the space station’s available power from 160 kilowatts to 215 kW.