Space Station Vista: Planet and Galaxy
Explanation:
If you could circle the Earth aboard the International Space Station, what might
you see?
Some amazing vistas, one of which was captured in
this breathtaking picture in mid-2015.
First, visible at the top, are parts of the
space station itself including
solar panels.
Just below the station is the band of our
Milky Way Galaxy,
glowing with the combined light of billions of stars,
but dimmed in patches by filaments of
dark dust.
The band of red light just below the Milky Way is
airglow --
Earth's atmosphere excited by the
Sun
and glowing in specific colors of light.
Green
airglow
is visible below the red.
Of course that's
our Earth below its air, with the
terminator between day and night visible near the horizon.
As clouds speckle the planet, illumination from a bright
lightning bolt is seen toward the lower right.
Between work assignments,
astronauts from all over the Earth have
been
enjoying vistas like this from the space station since the year 2000.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
