Launch Recite Me assistive technology
A long-exposure photograph taken from space shows the curvature of the Earth below. Streaks of white and gold light arc across the dark landscape and sky, with parts of a spacecraft visible in the upper left.

Trippy, long exposure shots of the surface of Earth, from space engineer Don Pettit

—
Date
19 June 2012

You may take some hilarious photos at work. Perhaps snaps of some amusing post-its, or someone larking about with a novelty hat – and there’s nothing wrong with any of that. If anything, keep it up. But please don’t be dismayed when you see that Don Pettit has been casually snapping what he sees every day out of his office window – the cosmos. In these spectacular long-exposure shots, Don conveys a snapshot not just of what it’s like to be a flight engineer on a spacecraft but the sheer amount of light Earth emits from the cities that cover it, and the huge amount of light that the stars and auroras feed back.

A long-exposure photograph from space shows the curvature of Earth below a dark sky filled with vertical blue star trails. A section of the International Space Station is visible in the top right, featuring a logo and the word “Japan”.
Above

Don Pettit: ISS Star Trails

A long-exposure photograph of Earth from space, showing the planet's curvature against a dark sky. Streaks of golden and blue light blur across the surface, with thin vertical lines of light stretching into the atmosphere.
Above

Don Pettit: ISS Star Trails

A long-exposure photograph from space shows the curvature of Earth below, glowing with streaks of orange and blue light. Above, a piece of spacecraft hardware is framed by concentric circles of white star trails against a black sky.
Above

Don Pettit: ISS Star Trails

A long-exposure photograph from space shows the curvature of the Earth beneath a canopy of streaking blue and white stars. A section of a space station module, marked with the word “Japan”, is visible at the top.
Above

Don Pettit: ISS Star Trails

A long-exposure photograph from space shows stars as concentric white circles against a dark blue sky. Below, the curved horizon of Earth glows with streaks of yellow and green light.
Above

Don Pettit: ISS Star Trails

A long-exposure photograph from space shows the curved horizon of Earth. Streaks of blue and white light arc across the dark sky, while golden light trails blur across the planet's surface.
Above

Don Pettit: ISS Star Trails

Share Article

About the Author

Liv Siddall

—

Liv joined It’s Nice That as an intern in 2011 and worked across online, print and events, and was latterly Features Editor before leaving in May 2015.

It's Nice That Newsletters

Fancy a bit of It's Nice That in your inbox? Sign up to our newsletters and we'll keep you in the loop with everything good going on in the creative world.