Don Pettit - Photographing Earth From Space

Very cool talk by the world’s favorite space photographer, NASA astronaut Don Pettit. He’s lived off of Earth for almost a year, and here’s why and how he takes the pictures he does. So cool to look behind the scenes of the science and art we love.

Goes well with Alan Poindexter’s lessons on how space photography is done.

Bonus: Here’s how they edit another kind of space photography, the Hubble Space Telescope images.

(via PhotoShelter)

Source: vimeo.com

iateabee:

“Because I’m in space—and I can—I get to name these yo-yo tricks as I invent them.”

NASA Astronaut Don Pettit uses his off-duty time to practice his microgravity yo-yo skills.

“Hear that? That’s the sound of precision ball bearings.”

Don Pettit stakes his claim for coolest astronaut, doing yo-yo tricks in orbit to demonstrate physics. You really want to watch the other videos in Don’s orbital science series. Trust me.

smithsonianmag: Stunning Star Trail Photographs from International Space Station NASA astronaut Don Pettit recently uploaded a gallery of photos to the Johnson Space Center’s Flickr page. Pettit on how he captured these amazing images: “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, the ‘stack’ them using imaging software, thus producing the longer exposure.” Ed note: Here are the Hubble Space Telescope’s finest photos. h/t Twisted Sifter Whooooooooooa. Thank you, Don. These are phenomenal!
Zoom Info
smithsonianmag: Stunning Star Trail Photographs from International Space Station NASA astronaut Don Pettit recently uploaded a gallery of photos to the Johnson Space Center’s Flickr page. Pettit on how he captured these amazing images: “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, the ‘stack’ them using imaging software, thus producing the longer exposure.” Ed note: Here are the Hubble Space Telescope’s finest photos. h/t Twisted Sifter Whooooooooooa. Thank you, Don. These are phenomenal!
Zoom Info
smithsonianmag: Stunning Star Trail Photographs from International Space Station NASA astronaut Don Pettit recently uploaded a gallery of photos to the Johnson Space Center’s Flickr page. Pettit on how he captured these amazing images: “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, the ‘stack’ them using imaging software, thus producing the longer exposure.” Ed note: Here are the Hubble Space Telescope’s finest photos. h/t Twisted Sifter Whooooooooooa. Thank you, Don. These are phenomenal!
Zoom Info
smithsonianmag: Stunning Star Trail Photographs from International Space Station NASA astronaut Don Pettit recently uploaded a gallery of photos to the Johnson Space Center’s Flickr page. Pettit on how he captured these amazing images: “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, the ‘stack’ them using imaging software, thus producing the longer exposure.” Ed note: Here are the Hubble Space Telescope’s finest photos. h/t Twisted Sifter Whooooooooooa. Thank you, Don. These are phenomenal!
Zoom Info
smithsonianmag: Stunning Star Trail Photographs from International Space Station NASA astronaut Don Pettit recently uploaded a gallery of photos to the Johnson Space Center’s Flickr page. Pettit on how he captured these amazing images: “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, the ‘stack’ them using imaging software, thus producing the longer exposure.” Ed note: Here are the Hubble Space Telescope’s finest photos. h/t Twisted Sifter Whooooooooooa. Thank you, Don. These are phenomenal!
Zoom Info
smithsonianmag: Stunning Star Trail Photographs from International Space Station NASA astronaut Don Pettit recently uploaded a gallery of photos to the Johnson Space Center’s Flickr page. Pettit on how he captured these amazing images: “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, the ‘stack’ them using imaging software, thus producing the longer exposure.” Ed note: Here are the Hubble Space Telescope’s finest photos. h/t Twisted Sifter Whooooooooooa. Thank you, Don. These are phenomenal!
Zoom Info
smithsonianmag: Stunning Star Trail Photographs from International Space Station NASA astronaut Don Pettit recently uploaded a gallery of photos to the Johnson Space Center’s Flickr page. Pettit on how he captured these amazing images: “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, the ‘stack’ them using imaging software, thus producing the longer exposure.” Ed note: Here are the Hubble Space Telescope’s finest photos. h/t Twisted Sifter Whooooooooooa. Thank you, Don. These are phenomenal!
Zoom Info

smithsonianmag:

Stunning Star Trail Photographs from International Space Station

NASA astronaut Don Pettit recently uploaded a gallery of photos to the Johnson Space Center’s Flickr page. Pettit on how he captured these amazing images:

“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, the ‘stack’ them using imaging software, thus producing the longer exposure.”

Ed note: Here are the Hubble Space Telescope’s finest photos.

h/t Twisted Sifter

Whooooooooooa. Thank you, Don. These are phenomenal!

(via fuckyeahartandscience)

Source: Flickr / nasa_jsc_photo

Out of This World Physics Demos

Don Pettit has been producing regular science education videos while stationed on the International Space Station as part of his Science Off The Sphere series. They are fantastic! I think science lessons would be much more fun if we got to do them all in microgravity.

In the video above, he demonstrates wave oscillations on water droplets using a laptop speaker. More great videos can be found here, including antibubbles and dancing droplets.

(via MetaFilter)

Source: metafilter.com

lifeisjustatheory:

NASA astronaut Don Pettit already demonstrated his awesomeness with a candy-corn experiment in space. This time, he makes droplets orbit a charged knitting needle. It’s the first in the “Science off the Sphere” video series, a collaboration between NASA and the American Physical Society. Videos in the series are shot on the International Space Station.

Via Geeks are Sexy

Science, even in space, doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive to be amazing and informative.