When it comes to astronomical photography, results are often governed by location, location and location. This was certainly the case for Don Pettit, who, like many before him, decided to take long-exposure pictures to capture the trails of stars as their positions relative to the Earth changed. There was one chief difference for Pettit, though: He took the pictures while an astronaut on the International Space Station.
Pettit’s experiment produced a series of amazing pictures, which photographer Alan Rivest then used to assemble a time-lapse video. Not only are the star trails beautiful, but the video also captures auroras and lit-up cities at night, among other things.
If this video isn’t the most beautiful 200 seconds of your day, I’ll be surprised.
Matt Blum
Matt Blum is Editor-in-Chief of GeekDad. He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and two kids, all of whom are also geeks. In his day job Matt is a software engineer, and his many geeky interests include science fiction, the Muppets, LEGO, board games, video games, and bacon.