Long-Exposure Images of ISS Star Trails by Astronaut Don Pettit

NASA astronaut Don Pettit shot some really beautiful long-exposure images of star trails while aboard the International Space Station in 2012. Last year, we posted a video by Pettit where he demonstrated antibubbles in space.

He says about his photographic technique:

“My star trail images are made by taking a time exposure of about 10 to 15 minutes. However, with modern digital cameras, 30 seconds is about the longest exposure possible, due to electronic detector noise effectively snowing out the image. To achieve the longer exposures I do what many amateur astronomers do. I take multiple 30-second exposures, then ‘stack’ them using imaging software, thus producing the longer exposure.”

images via NASA

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips