An cosmonaut recently captured an look-alike of Earth from the International Space Station that provide an wholly different persuasion of our world and what lie beyond .
Astronaut Don Pettit captured the mental image when the ISS was about 265 miles above the Pacific Ocean on January 29 , 2025 . The icon was taken just before sunrise , so the component of the world seeable in the picture are still clothe in duskiness .
In the background , the gassy , oblong Milky Way is visible . The Milky Way is seen edge - on , imply that the photo expect across the Galax urceolata ’s diameter .
Earth (right) and the Milky Way (left).Image: NASA/Don Pettit
The photo was taken with a television camera using low light and foresighted duration preferences , avail Pettit charm the blur of Earth ’s rotation against a focused backdrop of Milky Way mavin .
The photo is peculiar in that our planet — so famously grim and green with wisps of white-hot clouds — is instead a mossy unripe chromaticity . A fragile stria of white delineates the edge of the planet ’s ambiance and the bound between our existence and space .
Pettit is part of NASA ’s Expedition 72 gang , a group that include astronauts Suni Williams , Butch Wilmore , and Nick Hague . Williams and Wilmore have boast prominently inrecent headlinesbecause they have been wedge in place . Their spot recently became a flash period when SpaceX possessor Elon Muskclaimedthe astronauts were bequeath stranded forpolitical reasons , andtraded barbswith a former ISS commandant who insisted otherwise . Williams and Wilmore are currently expected to return to Earth in March on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft .
The mean solar day after this exposure was accept , Williams and Wilmore conduct a 5.5 - minute spacewalk . In doing so , Williamsbroke the recordfor the full spacewalk prison term by a woman , fetch her totality to 62 hour and 6 minutes — excel the premature record book of 60 hour and 21 moment . So it ’s not like the cosmonaut are wasting their time in the ISS as they await their riposte .
Meanwhile , Pettit ’s photograph enters a unique pantheon of trope of our planet taken from orbit . Pettit also authored aremarkable shotof Earth with two satellite beetleweed in the background back in December . As Pettit reported on X ( formerly Twitter ) , he drive the photograph using a “ place - made trailing equipment that allows time exposures required to snap star fields , ” and to “ stay tune for more photos like this . ”
By the face of it , the recent surreal pellet of Earth made use of goods and services of the same technology . Pettit was able to capture a clear view of the adept from low - earthly concern sphere .
Pettit also made headlines recently for divvy up a telecasting in which he jumped into his pants two legs at a time . For the track record , I can do that too . And I do n’t need zero graveness to make it happen — just ask my three pairs of buck pant .
AstronauticsastrophotographyEarthgalaxyThe whitish Way
Daily Newsletter
Get the best technical school , science , and finish tidings in your inbox daily .
News from the futurity , delivered to your present .
You May Also Like
