Skip to main content

Astronaut shares dazzling star-filled video from the space station

NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick has shared another amazing time-lapse video from the International Space Station (ISS), where he’s been living and working since March.

Dominick has fast earned himself a reputation for having great creative ability when it comes to photographing both the inside and outside of the orbital laboratory. The American astronaut also likes to share the technical aspects of his work, and welcomes feedback on how he might tackle his photographic projects differently for better results.

Recommended Videos

His latest effort, shared on social media on Sunday and embedded below, features a frame filled with numerous stars along, with sections of the ISS silhouetted against the light.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

“Experimenting with time-lapses out of different windows around the ISS,” Dominick wrote in his post. “This is one of a few windows that face away from Earth in a compartment in the service module called the ПхО. ISO is cranked high and the exposure is a possibly too long (1.6 seconds) as you can see the stars starting to streak. Considering cranking ISO higher and dropping exposure for crisper stars, but I don’t want to lose nebulosity. Thoughts?”

Experimenting with time lapses out of different windows around the ISS. This is one of a few windows that face away from earth in a compartment in the service module called the ПхО. ISO is cranked high and the exposure is a possibly too long (1.6s) as you can see the stars… pic.twitter.com/MJB3hDdIH8

— Matthew Dominick (@dominickmatthew) August 4, 2024

Last month, Dominick shared a time-lapse that included an aurora, satellites, stars, and a meteor zipping across the frame. He’s also been posting some highly creative images from inside the ISS involving techniques like long exposures and multiple flashes.

A couple of weeks ago, Dominick had an online discussion with space photographer extraordinaire Don Pettit. During the chat, a recording of which is available online, the pair talked about their experiences with astrophotography in low-Earth orbit.

At 69, Pettit is currently NASA’s oldest active astronaut and is set to make his fourth trip to orbit in September. Over the course of his career, Pettit has earned a reputation for producing incredible images from space. The accomplished astronaut is set to make his fourth trip to orbit in September and we can’t wait to see the kind of images he shares once he’s settled in.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
Check out astronaut’s stunning ‘science and art’ photo from the ISS
Earth, space, and the ISS as seen from the space station.

“So full of techno-cool and art-cool,” American astronaut Don Pettit wrote in a social media post describing his latest image from the International Space Station (ISS).

The remarkable photo is filled with light from stars and cities, with the trails created by keeping the camera shutter open for an extended period. We can also see the airglow on Earth's horizon, sunlight glinting off the SpaceX’s distant Starlink satellites, several spacecraft docked at the ISS, and parts of the station itself, too.

Read more
Space station video shows ‘cosmic fireflies’ high above Earth
Starlink satellites described as 'cosmic fireflies.'

On his fourth trip to orbit, NASA astronaut Don Pettit has been sharing some wonderful imagery captured from the International Space Station (ISS) since his arrival there in September.

His latest effort shows distant stars, city lights on Earth some 250 miles below, and what he describes as “cosmic fireflies,” but which are actually Starlink internet satellites deployed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company.

Read more
Take a flight over Mars’ Ares Vallis in a new video from Mars Express
mars ares vallis flyover screenshot 2024 11 30 234209

A new video shows what it would be like to cruise over the surface of Mars, zooming in to the planet from orbit and into a channel called the Ares Vallis. Created from data taken by the European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars Express mission, it shows the region where NASA's Pathfinder mission landed in 1997.

Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin and NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS. Data processing/animation: Björn Schreiner, Image Processing Group (FU Berlin)

Read more