Night on Earth, Seen From Orbit (24 photos)

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. To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here. City lights streak past in one of a series of 30-second exposures taken by the NASA astronaut Don Pettit as the International Space Station passed over the United Kingdom on December 30, 2024. ( Don Pettit / NASA)

Feb 13, 2025 - 21:42
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Night on Earth, Seen From Orbit (24 photos)

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.

To receive an email notification every time new photo stories are published, sign up here.

An orbital view of the Earth at night, showing city lights streaking past during a long exposure.
City lights streak past in one of a series of 30-second exposures taken by the NASA astronaut Don Pettit as the International Space Station passed over the United Kingdom on December 30, 2024. ( Don Pettit / NASA)