NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in March as commander of the SpaceX Crew-8 Mission, and some of you might have seen his stunning images from both inside and outside the ISS on X, formerly Twitter.
Today, he’ll be joined by fellow astronaut and renowned space photographer Don Pettit for a live chat via X, at 4:05 pm ET, 09:05 pm BST, and both astronauts will be taking questions at the end.
Developments in astrophotography have brought us not only stunning photographs of space, but also incredible advancements in the understanding of our solar system from the likes of NASA’s James Webb Space, and the Hubble Space Telescope.
At 69, Pettit is NASA’s oldest active astronaut. He’s also a chemical engineer and is known for his orbital astrophotography as well as his in-space inventions, such as the Capillary Cup, a zero-gravity coffee cup he designed on the International Space Station in 2008. The cup received the first-ever patent for an object invented in space.
He has lived a total of 369 days in space, and spends his spare time while among the stars, taking photos of the cosmos from inside the International Space Station’s cupola, the small glass dome consisting of seven windows where astronauts observe space and the Earth from orbit.
One of his images that proved incredibly popular with viewers was of Star Trails taken from his mission to the ISS, Expedition 30 entitled Lightening Bugs, snapped in 2012. Pettit posted the image to Reddit, causing a stir when he commented:
“My name is Donald Pettit, and I am an active NASA astronaut and astrophotographer. New to Reddit, I wanted to share some of my work here, and hope you enjoy!”
I captured something most astrophotographers can only dream about: I captured Star Trails from space. More details in comments. from r/space
The post was liked by over 70,000 people, with one user commenting “Everyone get in here we got a real astronaut posting!!”
Petit explained that the photo was captured with a Nikon D3s, ISO 800, 24 mm lens at f/5.6.
“In the photo, stars make arcing trails in deep space, while a huge thunderstorm pounds Earth below as seen from the time history of lightning flashes. The atmosphere between them glows green with what scientists call airglow, which has a different excitation mechanism than auroras.”
The master class will be a chance to listen, and talk to real live astronauts about anything from deep space, to their favorite cameras.
Take a look at our guide to the best cameras for astrophotography, and the best star tracker mounts for astrophotography.
