Astrophotographer captures rare daylight image of Intl’ Space Station alongside Venus

An astrophotographer has captured a daylight image showing the International Space Station (ISS) seemingly passing alongside Venus, a feat that required precise timing, advanced equipment and meticulous planning.

The image was taken on 18 July by photographer AJ Smadi from a park near Seattle, Washington. To capture the shot, Smadi used a 9.25-inch (23.5 cm) Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope paired with a ZWO ASI662MC camera equipped with ultraviolet and infrared filters, according to Space.com.

However, this is not Smadi's first successful attempt at photographing the ISS and Venus together. In 2025, he captured a similar image that was selected by NASA as its Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Reflecting on what inspired the project, Smadi said, "The thing that inspired me to capture Venus with the ISS is the fact that nobody has done it before."

He said the earlier success motivated him to improve on his original achievement.

"After having realized this in April 2025 following my first time capturing the pair together, I was determined to best my own achievement," Smadi told Space.com.

Smadi, who regularly photographs the ISS, said the quality of such images depends heavily on atmospheric stability and the station's distance from Earth at the time of capture.

According to Space.com, photographing celestial objects such as Venus during daylight, apart from the Moon, requires careful planning, specialised filters and a thorough understanding of astrophotography techniques.

Adding to the challenge, the ISS travels at approximately 4.6 miles (7.5 kilometres) per second. Although the space station and Venus appear close together in the image, they were actually separated by around 84 million miles (135 million kilometres), making the alignment exceptionally difficult to capture.