Zodiacal Light, Starlinks, Milky Way Stars & Airglow | International Space Station

Zodiacal Light, Starlinks, Milky Way Stars & Airglow | International Space Station

NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 flight engineer Don Pettit on the International Space Station: "One photo with: [the] Milky Way, Zodiacal light, Starlink satellites as streaks, stars as pin points, atmosphere on edge showing OH emission as burned umber (my favorite Crayon color), [a] soon to rise sun, and cities at night as streaks. Taken two days ago from Dragon Crew 9 vehicle port window."

The zodiacal light—also called “false dawn” when seen before sunrise—is a faint, diffuse band of light in the night sky, reaching up from the horizon. It follows the direction of the ecliptic—the plane of Earth's orbit around the Sun. This plane is rich in tiny particles of dust. It scatters sunlight and creates this phenomenon. The other planets in the Solar System orbit the Sun in roughly the same plane, and therefore can be often seen within the zodiacal light. If you have never seen zodiacal light before, you are not alone. The glow is so faint that light pollution or even moonlight can outshine it.

Airglow or hydroxyl radical (OH) emissions occur when atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere, excited by sunlight, emit light to shed their excess energy. Or, it can happen when atoms and molecules that have been ionized by sunlight collide with and capture a free electron. In both cases, they eject a particle of light—called a photon—in order to relax again. 

Expedition 72 Updates:
https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 72 Crew

Station Commander: Suni Williams
Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, Aleksandr Gorbunov
NASA Flight Engineers: Butch Wilmore, Don Pettit, Nick Hague

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada.

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)/D. Pettit

Image Date: Jan. 11, 2025

Release Date: Jan. 13, 2025

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