An astronaut on the space station has captured a stunning photo of the Earth’s edge, showing city lights “fighting” with distant star lights.
European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Pesquet captured the image of the ISS dome showing a delicate orange and green band around the world.
He posted the image on Twitter, writing: “A night photo from the dome: sometimes the lights of the stars face lights of the city for who is the brightest and most beautiful.”
The orange band is the “sodium layer” of the Earth formed by neutral sodium atoms in the upper layers of the atmosphere, which originate from the combustion of meteors.
Sodium atoms are excited in the atmosphere, creating the glow visible from space, with a faint green glow above from excited oxygen atoms.
An astronaut on the space station captured a stunning photo of the Earth’s edge, showing city lights “fighting” with distant star lights
Pesquet, a French astronaut, is on his second mission to the space station as part of the European Space Agency and arrived as part of the SpaceX Crew-2 mission in April.
During his time at the station he became famous for his exceptional and stunning photograph of the Earth beneath the space station.
The new image was made from the dome of the ISS, with city lights and distant star light equally visible.
The most prominent feature of the image is the orange band that extends around the planet, made up of excited sodium atoms 55 kilometers from the planet.
Astronomer Juan Carlos Munoz has retweeted the image shared by Pesquet, saying the orange band was a natural emission of sodium atoms.
Astronomers can use this layer of sodium to create an “artificial star” that acts as a laser guide to observe space, compensating for movements in the atmosphere.
“By firing lasers with exactly the same color, we can create artificial‘ stars ’that can be used to measure and correct atmospheric turbulence, giving sharp images,” he said on Twitter.
He added: “A little above the sodium layer you can see green light from the oxygen atoms. Airglow, this natural emission of different atoms, is completely invisible to the naked eye, but can be seen in long exposure shots. .
Curious facts about the sodium layer: These sodium atoms come from meteors.
“So when we excite them with lasers to correct the astronomical blur, we’re using space things to observe space.”
The International Space Station travels at 17,000 miles per hour, orbiting the Earth every 90 minutes, which can make good photography difficult.
Pesquet, a French astronaut, is on his second mission to the space station as part of the European Space Agency and arrived as part of the SpaceX Crew-2 mission in April.
“These images are hard to do and I’ve lost more than my share,” Pesquet said, adding that “you need a long shutter speed.”
“So not only as a photographer do you have to stay extremely still by grabbing the camera, but the space station moves so fast that there will be some movement anyway … the complexities of space photography,” he explained. the astronaut.
Capturing a side view of the Earth was possible in part due to a change in the orientation of the space station.
Normally, the Space Station flies with its belly towards the Earth and the dome points downwards, according to Pesquet.
“But when the spacecraft catches up with it, we change the way we control the orientation of the station, so that arriving ships don’t have to accommodate a constantly rotating target,” he said.
“These images are hard to do and I’ve lost more than my share,” Pesquet said, adding that “you need a long shutter speed.”
He has shared a wide range of photos and timelapse videos of the dome, which is a large window overlooking the Earth below.
A recent video showed a lapse of time over Europe with lightning shooting into the distance.
Pesquet is expected to become the commander of the ISS when the SpaceX Crew-3 mission for the station is launched on Halloween.
This marks the start of Expedition 66, which will also include two Russian civilians: film director Klim Shipenko and actress Yulia Peresild, who are making a film called The Challenge to the Station.
The orange band is the “sodium layer” of the Earth formed by neutral sodium atoms in the upper layers of the atmosphere, which originate from the burning of meteors.
EXPLAINED: THE $ 100 MILLION INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION LOCATES 250 MILES ON EARTH
The International Space Station (ISS) is a $ 100 billion (£ 80 billion) science and engineering laboratory that orbits about 400 miles (400 km) above the Earth.
Since November 2000, it has been permanently equipped with rotating equipment for astronauts and cosmonauts.
The crews come mainly from the United States and Russia, but the Japanese space agency JAXA and the European space agency ESA have also sent astronauts.
The International Space Station has been continuously occupied for more than 20 years and has been spent with several new modules added and updates to the systems.
Research conducted aboard the ISS often requires one or more of the unusual conditions present in low Earth orbit, such as low gravity or oxygen.
ISS studies have investigated human research, space medicine, life sciences, physical sciences, astronomy, and meteorology.
The US space agency, NASA, spends about $ 3 billion (£ 2.4 billion) a year on the space station program, with the rest of the funding coming from international partners, including Europe. , Russia and Japan.
So far 244 people from 19 countries have visited the station, including eight private citizens who spent up to $ 50 million on their visit.
There is an ongoing debate about the future of the station beyond 2025, when it is believed that some of the original structures will reach the “end of life”.
Russia, a major partner of the station, plans to launch its own orbital platform at the time, with Axiom Space, a private company, planning to send its own modules for purely commercial use to the station at the same time.
NASA, ESA, JAXA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) are working together to build a space station orbiting the moon and Russia and China are working on a similar project, which would also include a base at the surface.