A stunning new photo of our planet, taken from space, has come to light. The new photo of Earth comes from Thomas Pesquet, a French astronaut currently residing aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
See also: NASA confirms collection of rocky sample from Mars
The International Space Station has been in orbit for 22 years.
Pesquet, an engineer with the European Space Agency (ESA), is one of the members of the SpaceX Crew-2 mission and Expedition 65 's NASA, which launched to the station in April. It's his second spaceflight and he's known for capturing and delivering some stunning, yet surreal, images of our planet.
The new image it presents is perhaps the most impressive of all so far.
Taken from the ISS dome, which acts as an observatory, Pesquet's photo shows Earth with city lights "fighting" with light from distant stars. The orange band around Earth is, according to astronomer Juan Carlos Munoz, the emission of sodium atoms, about 90 kilometers above the surface of our planet.
See also: ISS: Russian “Nauka” module destabilized the entire station
There is also a faint green line, just above the orange band, which is created by oxygen atoms.
This is a very interesting photo of the Earth and actually taking such an image is not easy. The French astronaut explained that it was very difficult.
See also: Space debris fell and caused damage to the ISS!
“It’s not just that as a photographer you have to stay extremely still while holding the camera, it’s also that the International Space Station moves so fast that there’s some movement anyway,” Pesquet explains in the caption of his photo. The ISS travels at over 17,000 miles per hour and completes an orbit over the Earth about every 90 minutes.
The third SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the ISS is expected around Halloween . Thomas Pesquet will take over as commander in late October when the four-member Crew-3 crew arrives at the station.
Source: CNET
