Astronaut Don Pettit Shows How To Take Long-exposure Photos From The Iss

NASA astronaut Don Pettit created his ain instrumentality to thief him return photos of nan stars while connected nan International Space Station — and nan results are beautiful impressive. In a Reddit thread spotted by Space.com, Pettit describes really he brought a homemade prima locator pinch him to space, allowing his camera to seizure long-exposure photos without nan stars leaving immoderate trails behind.

Star trackers are designed to rotate pinch nan Earth — aliases successful Pettit’s case, nan ISS — to forestall distortion erstwhile taking pictures of nan nighttime sky. One of Pettit’s photos, which you tin spot above, was a 15-second clip exposure. He says his locator completes a rotation each 90 minutes to lucifer nan ISS’s proscription rate. “Without this tracker, you tin not return photo[s] longer than 1/2 sec without prima blur owed to nan title of orbital motion,” Pettit writes.

In a abstracted post, Pettit notes that aligning nan locator connected a moving level isn’t an easy task, adding that he tin presently return up to 30-second exposures “without important prima motion.” Taking photos done nan ISS’s windows too presents different challenge. “Looking done 4 panes of glass, 2 of which are 30mm thick, astatine an position makes for immoderate distortion and comparative optically induced prima motion,” Pettit says.

If you want to spot moreover overmuch unthinkable images captured by Pettit, you tin browse done them connected his Reddit narration page, X, and Instagram. Many show what photos from nan ISS look for illustration without compensating for its movement.