A NASA astronaut may have just taken the best photo from space—ever

During his third stay in orbit, Pettit is absolutely killing it.

An image of the Earth, with cities streaking by below, captured

earlier this month by NASA Astronaut Don Pettit.

Credit: Don Pettit/NASA

People who appreciate good astrophotography will no doubt be familiar with the work of Don Pettit, a veteran NASA astronaut who is closing in on having lived 500 days of his life in space.

Pettit is now in the midst of his third stint on the International Space Station, and the decade he had to prepare for his current stay in orbit was put to good use. Accordingly, he is well stocked on cameras, lenses, and plans to make the most of six months in space to observe the planets and heavens from an incredible vantage point.

Ars has previously written admiringly of Pettit's work, but his latest image deserves additional mention. When I first saw it, I was dazzled by its beauty. But when I looked further into the image, there were just so many amazing details to be found.

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.

Pettit said he took the image from the port-side window of Crew Dragon Freedom, which brought two astronauts to the International Space Station last year and will bring Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams back to Earth next spring.

Putting all of this together, I think Pettit's streaky image may be the best picture ever taken from the International Space Station. Disagree?

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