TwistedSifter

21 Star Trails Captured from Space

 

Currently on-board the International Space Station, NASA astronaut and Expedition 31 Flight Engineer Don Pettit, recently uploaded an incredible gallery of star trails to NASA’s Johnson Space Center Flickr page.

Speaking about the star trails that result from taking long exposure images (i.e., a photo taken with a slow shutter speed), Petit relayed some information about the photographic techniques used to achieve the images:

“My star trail images are made by taking a time exposure of about 10 to 15 minutes. However, with modern digital cameras, 30 seconds is about the longest exposure possible, due to electronic detector noise effectively snowing out the image. To achieve the longer exposures I do what many amateur astronomers do. I take multiple 30-second exposures, then ‘stack’ them using imaging software, thus producing the longer exposure.”

In the amazing gallery below we get a surreal glimpse of Earth as seen from the ISS as it hurtles around our planet at an average speed of 17,500 mph (28,000 km/h). Enjoy!

 

 

1.

 

Photograph by NASA/Don Pettit

 

 

 

2.

 

Photograph by NASA/Don Pettit

 

 

 

3.

 

Photograph by NASA/Don Pettit

 

 

 

4.

 

Photograph by NASA/Don Pettit

 

 

 

5.

 

Photograph by NASA/Don Pettit

 

 

 

6.

 

Photograph by NASA/Don Pettit

 

 

 

7.

 

Photograph by NASA/Don Pettit

 

 

 

8.

 

Photograph by NASA/Don Pettit

 

 

 

9.

 

Photograph by NASA/Don Pettit

 

 

 

10.

 

Photograph by NASA/Don Pettit

 

 

 

11.

 

Photograph by NASA/Don Pettit

 

 

 

12.

 

Photograph by NASA/Don Pettit

 

 

 

13.

 

Photograph by NASA/Don Pettit

 

 

 

14.

 

Photograph by NASA/Don Pettit

 

 

 

15.

 

Photograph by NASA/Don Pettit

 

 

 

16.

 

Photograph by NASA/Don Pettit

 

 

 

17.

 

Photograph by NASA/Don Pettit

 

 

 

18.

 

Photograph by NASA/Don Pettit

 

 

 

19.

 

Photograph by NASA/Don Pettit

 

 

 

20.

 

Photograph by NASA/Don Pettit

 

 

 

21.

 

Photograph by NASA/Don Pettit

 

 

 

 

 

If you enjoyed this post, the Sifter highly recommends:

 

Earth at Night: 30 Photos from Space

 

 

 

15 Mind-Blowing Featured Images by NASA

 

 

 

Exit mobile version