I reflexively hated the light streaks at first, but then I thought about it and realized I’ve never seen the speed of ISS orbit represented in a photo before and that’s kinda cool, especially juxtaposed with the Milky Way detail that was only possible with the very same long exposure that produce the streaks.

Idk. Space usually looks pretty still and tranquil, so having that and a sense of fast movement in the same shot is pretty cool I guess.

“Best ever” though? Hell, what does that even mean? It’s a cool photo, let’s just leave it at that.

[–] mipadaitu@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Some context for those of you who are confused as to why this picture is impressive.

https://www.universetoday.com/170146/astronaut-don-pettit-is-serious-he-rigged-up-astrophotography-gear-on-the-iss/

The ISS rotates around the earth every 90 minutes, so before Don Pettit brought a custom built astrophotography rig up there this picture would have been impossible to take.

It's weird that Eric Burger neglected to put this picture into perspective for people who aren't 100% up to date on their space news.

[–] admin@science.social 2 points 1 month ago

@mipadaitu@lemmy.world Thank you for linking to this!

[–] AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

best photo from space—ever

That's really subjective.

[–] admin@science.social 1 points 1 month ago

@AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works Extremely subjective but that's the title :P

[–] NineMileTower@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

That's highly debatable

[–] salvaria@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

For anyone else looking for more info

[–] admin@science.social 2 points 1 month ago

@salvaria@lemmy.blahaj.zone Yep! Cheers

[–] masterofn001@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This is aliens, right?

[–] turmacar@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Starlink sats

[–] masterofn001@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 month ago

Musk. Ruining politics, social media, astronomy, and astrophotography simultaneously.

[–] Tedesche@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

Uhm...I'ma have to disagree on that.

[–] danielbowmaniel@mastodon.sdf.org 2 points 1 month ago

@admin @science@lemmy.world @science@beehaw.org @space

WOW! Amazing. Thank you for the explainer.

[–] whostosay@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Obviously fake, the earth should be flat in this photo.

[–] Hule@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

That orange line is the wall around it, man!

[–] whostosay@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Yeah, the only thing we were wrong about was the ice wall, it turns out it's an orange ice wall

[–] danielbowmaniel@mastodon.sdf.org 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

@admin @science@lemmy.world @science@beehaw.org @space

What the hell IS that?

[–] IrritableOcelot@beehaw.org 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

A long enough exposure to capture the movement of the earth underneath, without being long enough for the perspective on the stars to change.

tl; dr: one helluva exercise in juuuust the right exposure length.

[–] bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 1 points 1 month ago

And even right before the sun came into view. Awesome.

[–] Glasgow@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 month ago

What a dumbass it’s not even in focus.

[–] Scio@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Link to the quoted article: https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/01/a-nasa-astronaut-may-have-just-taken-the-best-photo-from-space-ever/

[–] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 month ago

"In this image, one can see the core of the Milky Way galaxy, zodiacal light (sunlight diffused by interplanetary dust), streaks of SpaceX Starlink satellites, individual stars, an edge-on view of the atmosphere that appears in burnt umber due to hydroxide emissions, a near-sunrise just over the horizon, and nighttime cities appearing as streaks."

[–] pwalshj@lemmy.world -1 points 1 month ago

Thot filter. Lol