Night on Earth, Seen From Orbit

Recent images from the Earth’s night side, seen from the International Space Station

Don Pettit, a NASA astronaut, engineer, and photographer, recently returned to the International Space Station for his fourth mission, bringing along a homemade orbital sidereal tracker—a device to stabilize cameras, compensating for the rotation of the ISS as it orbits. Using this device, as well as other modern camera equipment, Pettit and other astronauts have been able to take amazing low-light photographs recently, imaging city lights, auroras, airglow, and the stars of our surrounding galaxy. Gathered below are night images from the ISS taken over the past few months.

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