NASA astronaut Don Pettit already has a long-held fame for creating stunning space photography, and his newest effort will solely bolster it.
Shared on social media on Thursday, the picture (prime) reveals Earth as a blaze of streaking mild, an impact created by utilizing a protracted and a number of exposures to seize cities at evening throughout a number of continents.
However the {photograph}, captured from the Worldwide Area Station (ISS) the place Pettit arrived in September on his fourth orbital mission, additionally options plenty of different goodies, together with maybe the primary ISS picture to indicate each a sundown and dawn in a single body. Round star trails above Earth are additionally seen, and when you look intently sufficient you may additionally be capable of see lightning flashes and aurora.
New star trails pictures is again!
This 30-minute time publicity by way of orbital evening with our new 15mm wide-angle lens was in a position to seize sundown (on the left) all the way in which to dawn (on the proper). I’ve by no means been in a position to seize this earlier than however our new quick (14mm f1.4 and… pic.twitter.com/H6uV9GGEK1
— Don Pettit (@astro_Pettit) November 7, 2024
“This 30-minute time publicity by way of orbital evening with our new 15mm wide-angle lens was in a position to seize sundown (on the left) all the way in which to dawn (on the proper),” Pettit, at 69 NASA’s oldest serving astronaut, wrote in a submit on social media. “I’ve by no means been in a position to seize this earlier than however our new quick (14mm f1.4 and 15mm T1.8) wide-angle lenses are opening up observations beforehand not attainable.”
Pettit added: “Seen are round star trails above the earth limb created not from Earth rotation however from our orbital movement (pitch axis of ISS), cities streaking by (once more attributable to orbital movement), lightning flashes, aurora, [and] atmospheric airglow (each sturdy inexperienced and fainter crimson).”
The American astronaut used a robust Nikon Z9 digicam with an Arri-Zeiss 15mm T1.8 grasp prime lens to seize the picture, opening the shutter for 30 seconds at T1.8 for particular person exposures that had been assembled utilizing Photoshop right into a composite equal to a 30-minute publicity.
Pettit hit the headlines shortly after arriving on the ISS final month after capturing a remarkable image exhibiting the Polaris Daybreak crew heading again to Earth at excessive velocity aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft on the finish of a history-making mission. He additionally not too long ago shared some elegant pictures that look more like works of art than images of Earth.
