NASA astronaut shares surreal photo of Earth, 3 galaxies
NASA astronaut Don Pettit captured the Milky Way and two distant galaxies in a single long-exposure image taken from the International Space Station.
A timelapse video taken by a NASA astronaut recorded an aurora over southeastern Asia and Australia earlier this month.
NASA astronaut Don Pettit has spent 590 days living in space, and even back on Earth, he continues to share breathtaking images from his time off the planet.
Over the weekend, Pettit shared a long-exposure photograph that captured the soft curve of Earth below, the glow of the planet's atmosphere, streaks of city lights and flashes of lightning from a thunderstorm. Hovering above it all: three galaxies.
Front and center is the Milky Way, the galaxy we call home. Two fainter companions appeared near the top of the image: the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.
These two galaxies orbit the Milky Way like distant cousins. Although they’re visible from the Southern Hemisphere, they’re far too faint to spot with the naked eye from most locations on Earth. From Pettit’s vantage point more than 250 miles above the surface, they shined a bit more clearly.
In the foreground of the photo sits a SpaceX Dragon capsule, one of the vehicles that ferries astronauts to and from the space station.
This is just the latest in a series of extraordinary images Pettit has captured during his time in orbit. Over the course of his missions, he’s documented satellites shining above the horizon, auroras dancing below his feet and the everyday routines of life in space.
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