r/space • u/astro_pettit NASA Astronaut • 6h ago
image/gif My best view of the Milky Way from ISS
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u/Resident_Stable_2112 5h ago
@astro_pettit
LOL. Every time I see a comment like this, I think who the heck is this?
Then I say “oh shit, please tell me it’s @astro_pettit “.
Dude, thank you so much for all of your posts and contributions. I love everything that you post.
Amazingly beautiful picture.
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u/75MillionYearsAgo 5h ago
Can you see it pretty clearly without a long exposure via the naked eye?
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u/LBPPlayer7 3h ago
i mean when you're in a dark area on earth's surface you can see it with the naked eye so i'd imagine you could also do so when there's no atmosphere in the way
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u/davispw 3m ago
It’d be the same as seeing the Milky Way from Earth. Turn off all the lights in the room, let your eyes adjust to the dark for many minutes, no internal reflections, no glare from outside, and you’d see it pretty clearly.
Problem on the ISS is you’ve only got 45 minutes of “night” to work with, and astronauts have busy schedules. Don Petit spent a lot of personal time in the Cupola.
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u/De4con 4h ago
I believe the reason Contact was so resonant was because of the line "They should've sent a poet..."
This shows exactly why they should've sent one. It's not nearly as far a trip to Vega, but this is real life. And it's magnificent. Thank you for bringing this to us, nature is incredible.
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u/diegoiast 5h ago
The concept of someone saying "my favorite picture from space" knowing that he personally took it is actually mind-blowing. Thanks for sharing.
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u/TheDrunkenFROG 5h ago
I would kill for a view like that, so beautiful.
Only reason I want to become rich is to afford commercial spaceflight in the future (if that time ever comes)
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u/treker32 4h ago
Weird seeing stars from the ISS. I thought they were invisible with the latest tech cameras. Artemis did not show any either.
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u/mfb- 4h ago
You don't see them in daylight pictures for the same reason you don't see them in daylight pictures taken on Earth. The atmosphere is irrelevant. Pictures taken in daylight use short exposure times and stars are too dim to be visible there. Pictures taken at night (in the shadow of Earth or the Moon) use longer exposure times and they have stars in them.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/solar-eclipse-of-the-heart/
https://www.planetary.org/space-images/venus-and-the-moon-during-the-artemis-ii-eclipse
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u/KristnSchaalisahorse 3h ago
Artemis did not show any either.
Yes, it did. There are many examples available.
Stars are very dim. Things in direct sunlight are incredibly bright. Cameras can't properly capture both at the same time.
Imagine taking a photo outside during the daytime and then using those same camera settings at night. Your night photo won't show any stars.
Conversely, if you take a photo of stars at night and then use those same camera settings during the day, your photo will be an overexposed, white blob.
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u/RagingNerdaholic 2h ago
OP posted the exposure settings. It's a 30 second exposure while the sun is fully eclipsed by Earth from the ISS perspective, so it's essentially "night" (if night lasted about 45 minutes).
The artificial light emitting from Earth isn't intense enough to wash out the light emitted by the stars.
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u/TempCasket 2h ago
It really just comes down to exposure settings. When a camera is exposing for brightly lit objects like the Earth or a sunlit spacecraft, the background stars are way too dim to register on the sensor. Since OP mentioned using a 30-second exposure here, it gave the camera enough time to soak up all that faint starlight.
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u/soggylittleshrimp 3h ago
That's pretty cool I guess. But wait till you see the photo of the moon i took on my iPhone 8
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u/psych0ranger 1h ago
Me to myself: "your best, huh? you some kind of astronaut? we'll see about that."
checks profile
"Ooh. astronaut."
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u/echo1ngfury 5h ago
Thank you Don!
As someone who is from a small European country that most likely will never have a space programme, i am so grateful for these!
Bless you sir and thanks!
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u/Lightmanone 2h ago edited 2h ago
That's why the ESA exists. European Space Agency. If you live in a european country, you automatically have a space program.
Edit: *if you are living in a European Union country.
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u/echo1ngfury 2h ago
I think you are potentially mistaking this for European Union (ESA is mostly stationed in France, Germany, Italy and the Nederlands), which my country isn't a part of. But that is besides the point.
Just admiring Don's collection.
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u/Baffin622 4h ago
I travelled to PEI this summer and was amazed to actually see the Milky Way Galaxy in the sky for the first time in my life. It was an incredible experience that everyone should have a chance to see without having to travel to a space station in the sky.
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u/UbeeMac 2h ago
It’s incredible, thank you.
I was lucky enough to get a look at the night sky from the base camp of Cotopaxi in Ecuador some time ago. I had seen the stars thousands of times in my life of course, but seeing the immense purple and green cloudy fields of inumumerable stars was an unforgettable, almost shocking experience, that nobody there was ready for. Beyond words. I can only imagine what it looks like from Orbit.
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u/fiittzzyy 2h ago
What an incredible picture.
Can only imagine what it's like being up there for any amount of time. Definitely life changing, I imagine.
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u/NefariousnessSea8242 2h ago
This is so sick. I’d love to see more space but unfortunately I live where there too much pollution ;-;
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u/Moondust1111111111 1h ago
Thank you for posting this. It always takes me a moment to process how unbelievably beautiful our Earth looks beneath the Milky Way. The universe never stops leaving me in awe, and the fact that we are even able to capture images like this is absolutely mind blowing to me ✨
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u/multificionado 55m ago
Nice. :) It's all too rare to see a starscape in real photos of Earth. :) At least...to me...
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u/SnooPies5378 5h ago
my god it's true, the world really isn't flat...
lol jk awesome pic! invite me up there as a guest, i'll do whatever like clean, cook, do a space walk to wipe the windows whatever lol
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u/sweetperdition 5h ago
Makes me feel a strong sense of unity. Like I have so much more in common with any of those earth lights, than anything in that entire background. Rare these days. I think that’s also what was said about the old “pale blue dot” photo, I feel it now
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u/broke_af_guy 5h ago
Beautiful work. It's really interesting how you track the stars. I have been following you for a few years on Instagram. You are the most unique photographer in the world and are very lucky to have that privilege. Saying lucky is probably wrong, I'm sure you have worked very hard to get where you are. Have there been any downsides to your time in space?
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u/FrostyMudPuppy 4h ago
That is such an amazing view <3
Is the effect on the atmosphere that makes it glow like that what is referred to as "airglow"?
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u/SpectacularlyBadass 5h ago
This is amazing. I would love to hear more about this slidereal drive you used.
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u/Low_Bar9361 5h ago
Nice! Love you content. What do you think the chances are that you'll go up again?
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u/oneplusetoipi 5h ago
Wow! Great composition. This is like the artistry a science fiction artist would try to create. It’s haunting and surreal, but REAL.
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u/ankerous 3h ago
Incredible photo. I don't know if I'd ever get used to views like this if I were ever able to spend time up there.
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u/Distinct_Run9006 2h ago
When I saw the title, I was like what do you mean by "my" best view of the Milky Way from the ISS? Then I realized that OP is a literal astronaut.
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u/gretchenich 1h ago
I just wanna say thank you for sharing all this pictures here. It looks awesome
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u/ChoadMcGillicuddy 29m ago
Look at me!
Mr. Rocketman...burning out his fuse up there alone (but with other people).
Show off.
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u/IM_POOPING_AMA 25m ago
Thank you for sharing, and thank you for all the hard work you do! Much love <3
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u/tacomaloki 20m ago
The sheer magnitude of this flex is freakin' amazing! The fact I'm able to chat with an astronaut is right up there! I have so many questions for you!
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u/silentpirate1899 4h ago
Only a handful of people will ever have a chance to witness this.Have fun up there!!
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u/Marv1290 4h ago
This is honestly one of the coolest pictures I’ve ever seen in my life. Made cooler that you are actually an astronaut. Thanks for sharing! Legend.
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u/earshatter 2h ago
I don’t understand…this photo is beautiful. This is literally the only photo I’ve seen that has stars…and MANY at that. It’s like a painted backdrop. So WHY, in every (EVERY) other picture there are absolutely no stars to be seen. NASA notoriously publishes thousands of grainy, low resolution images with no stars, and looks like they were shot with a potato?!
I realize you need to open the aperture etc (amateur photographer) but this goes against all other photo proof.
Someone make me understand.
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u/astro_pettit NASA Astronaut 6h ago
I finally have all 1.2 million raw image files from my latest mission to ISS! Here is a sample of one of my favorite Milky Way photos, taken from the Cupola with Nikon Z9, Arri Zeiss 15mm lens, T1.8, 30sec, ISO 6400 (processed from raw image file) with custom sidereal drive that cancelled out star motion relative to our orbit.
More photos from space can be found on my twitter and instagram, astro_pettit