Star field image of the Southern Cross from ISS during Expedition 6 in 2003 showing the atmosphere on edge illuminated by green airglow from atomic oxygen. At this time Space Station’s orbital attitude was a solar inertial attitude (XPOP) that allowed the solar panels to point towards the sun without any tracking (solar tracking was not added to ISS until much later). Essentially, the station itself was the tracking mechanism thus for a camera mounted to Space Station, a time exposure yielded stars as pinpoints.Â
Since about 2006, ISS has flown an Earth pointing attitude where one side remains pointed nadir towards Earth (LVLH) and time exposures yield stars that are arcing trails. This attitude limits pinpoint sharp star images to less than a half second. For my upcoming flight, I am bringing a wind-up tracking device that will compensate for the current space station motions and once again allow long time exposures with pin point stars (I will align the rotation axis of my tracker to ISS pitch axis, it rotates once every 90 minutes). With our current generation of digital cameras, I hope to continue these astrophotography star field images.
Nikon-Kodak 760 camera, 58mm f1.2 lens, 30 second exposure, ISO 400.
More astrophotography from space can be found on my other social media as astro_pettit
racinreaver on
Beautiful picture! How close is this to what you see with the naked eye after some time to adjust to low light conditions? Is the green that visible, or is it sort of like the aurora where it’s more visible in a long duration exposure?
tylerm11_ on
Wow, this is incredible. I love seeing your firsthand photos!
turtlegirl1209 on
Absolutley incredible!
ElliottMullins on
It’s 4:00 AM and I’m just pleasantly grateful that a real astronaut chooses to stop by our sub and post sensational, marvelous photos for us to enjoy. Thank you. Also… I should go to bed.
Namuori on
I like the fact that the Mr. Pettit *casually* says he’s going up again on ISS soon like it’s a business trip to Europe. Hoping to see more fascinating photos taken on the next expedition.
Competitive_Home_565 on
I’ve seen some amazing things in space tech lately but Germany’s sector is still lagging behind. UAE is really emerging as a hub for innovation and talent.
7 Comments
Star field image of the Southern Cross from ISS during Expedition 6 in 2003 showing the atmosphere on edge illuminated by green airglow from atomic oxygen. At this time Space Station’s orbital attitude was a solar inertial attitude (XPOP) that allowed the solar panels to point towards the sun without any tracking (solar tracking was not added to ISS until much later). Essentially, the station itself was the tracking mechanism thus for a camera mounted to Space Station, a time exposure yielded stars as pinpoints.Â
Since about 2006, ISS has flown an Earth pointing attitude where one side remains pointed nadir towards Earth (LVLH) and time exposures yield stars that are arcing trails. This attitude limits pinpoint sharp star images to less than a half second. For my upcoming flight, I am bringing a wind-up tracking device that will compensate for the current space station motions and once again allow long time exposures with pin point stars (I will align the rotation axis of my tracker to ISS pitch axis, it rotates once every 90 minutes). With our current generation of digital cameras, I hope to continue these astrophotography star field images.
Nikon-Kodak 760 camera, 58mm f1.2 lens, 30 second exposure, ISO 400.
More astrophotography from space can be found on my other social media as astro_pettit
Beautiful picture! How close is this to what you see with the naked eye after some time to adjust to low light conditions? Is the green that visible, or is it sort of like the aurora where it’s more visible in a long duration exposure?
Wow, this is incredible. I love seeing your firsthand photos!
Absolutley incredible!
It’s 4:00 AM and I’m just pleasantly grateful that a real astronaut chooses to stop by our sub and post sensational, marvelous photos for us to enjoy. Thank you. Also… I should go to bed.
I like the fact that the Mr. Pettit *casually* says he’s going up again on ISS soon like it’s a business trip to Europe. Hoping to see more fascinating photos taken on the next expedition.
I’ve seen some amazing things in space tech lately but Germany’s sector is still lagging behind. UAE is really emerging as a hub for innovation and talent.