veteran astronaut Don Petit Celebrated the New Year by capturing the International Space Station (ISS) amazing photo of the magnificent aurora,
69-year-old Petit is famous for his orbital astrophotographyIs NASA’s oldest active astronaut and ISS returned in September For its fourth orbital mission.
Petit’s latest photo, shared on January 2, shows the Northern Lights lighting up the night sky against the silhouette of the International Space Station. As the calendar approached 2025, Earth was hit by a significant CME and powerful solar winds, resulting in substantial polar activity and a severe G4 category storm on January 1.
On December 29, the Sun emitted three intense solar flares, peaking at 2:18 AM, 11:14 PM, and 11:31 PM ET. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Solar Ultraviolet Imager captured images of the events, which were classified as X1.1, X1.5, and X1.1. https://t.co/iAjDFBwLnt pic.twitter.com/VeX4jHJNn3
– NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) 30 December 2024
Although not as severe, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is predicting a G1-category storm on January 4 and 5, which could result in the northern lights being visible in northern areas of the United States. The January 1 storm didn’t exactly coincide with nighttime in North America, but viewers across Europe were treated to a spectacular display.
Since returning to the ISS in September, Petit has been particularly active with his camera. Petit, one of the most prolific and talented photographers in space, recently shared a video showing the fleeting nature of the Sun’s brightness on Earth. Dragon cargo number 31 taking off from the ISS and return to earth, and a Stunning photo of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) Which was captured by Petit using a homemade tracker to compensate for the motion of the space station.
Solar water deorbiting; Where there is water there is sunlight. These two photos were taken a few seconds apart to capture the fleeting nature of the sun’s brightness. pic.twitter.com/u4UrKCTrc0
– Don Pettit (@astro_Pettit) 29 December 2024
Dragon Cargo No. 31 undocked yesterday and returned to planet Earth carrying the spoils from our research. pic.twitter.com/YdG6CgF8EU
– Don Pettit (@astro_Pettit) 17 December 2024
The Large Magellanic Cloud is visible in the southern hemisphere, along with the upper “reddish-orange” part of our atmosphere (called the F-region) at the bottom of the photo. This is a time display using my homemade tracker that is compensated by @space Station Speed, thus allowing… pic.twitter.com/YcCwSqkIzV
– Don Pettit (@astro_Pettit) 13 December 2024
The LMC is about 200,000 light years from Earth, and the ISS moves at 17,500 mph, so Petit’s fancy homemade tracking system has a lot of challenges to overcome. so far so good.
This is not the first time that Petit has created a custom tracking system for use on the ISS. In 2002, during his first ISS mission, Pettit built a barn door tracker using “stuff he had lying around.” This instrument countered the motion of the ISS and enabled Petit to shoot clear images of cities from orbit at night.
“Before I built this barn door tracker at the station, you would take handheld photographs of cities at night with maybe a one-second exposure and they were always blurry, especially if they were done with a telephoto lens, “Petite explained to petapixel In a 2023 interview“This was the first time it allowed anyone to take clear photographs of cities at night.”
Petit and fellow cosmonauts, Russian cosmonauts Alexei Ovchinin and Ivan Wagner, are expected to return to Earth this spring.
Image Credit: Featured image by Don Pettit
