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ISS Space Science

Astronaut Photographs Perseid Meteor — From Space 61

Posted by timothy from the best-place-for-it-really dept.
astroengine writes "As the Perseid meteor shower begins to subside, there is one observer who was perfectly positioned to take a photograph where the skies are guaranteed to be clear from cloud. NASA astronaut Ron Garan — who is currently living aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as part of Expedition 27 — captured this stunning photograph of a Perseid out of the ISS window."
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Astronaut Photographs Perseid Meteor — From Space More

Astronaut Photographs Perseid Meteor — From Space

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  • Showoff (Score:5, Funny)

    by Culture20 ( 968837 ) on Sunday August 14, 2011 @05:17PM (#37088862)
    I could get a photo like that if I were an astronaut too. But really, bravo, excellent.

  • Impacts? (Score:3)

    by Swanktastic ( 109747 ) on Sunday August 14, 2011 @05:36PM (#37088984)

    What's the probability of these hitting the ISS?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by vlm ( 69642 )

      What's the probability of these hitting the ISS?

      Pretty low. Its kind of like incoming artillery, the ones you see are not the ones to worry about (classical, not NBC). Worry about the tiny little dot headed right towards you...

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward

        What's the probability of these hitting the ISS?

        Pretty low. Its kind of like incoming artillery, the ones you see are not the ones to worry about (classical, not NBC). Worry about the tiny little dot headed right towards you...

        It would be less of a problem if the Chinese would stop blowing shit up in orbit. [bbc.co.uk]

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by Dunbal ( 464142 ) *
          Yeah - ever noticed how all those stories about defective products from China and threats about embargos, threats about the Yuan, etc, ended right after that little incident? The message was: You take China seriously now because we can blow up your satellites. Of course the American response was "well we can do it from a ship at sea", but all that means was that the message was understood loud and clear.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Teancum ( 67324 )

            Widespread destruction of satellites would be politically speaking the equivalent of widespread use of nuclear weapons.... essentially setting your nation up to be taken out by the rest of the world immediately as a direct threat to the continuation of the species. It isn't so much that it could be done, but that it would be an incredibly stupid idea if it ever was done.

            Tests are tests, and in that case China was merely thumping its chest saying it was one of the big boys that needed to be treated as a pee

      • By the time they're white dots, they've passed by. The black dots that don't appear to be moving, on the black background.... those are the ones on a trajectory to worry about.

        • Which makes spotting the dangerous ones an interesting problem, as relative motion is the best& easiest way to detect things.

  • Its overuse has pretty much made it a meaningless blogspam word.

    • I'm inclined to believe the word was used appropriately here, as I was incapacitated for at least five minutes after seeing the photo.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Dunbal ( 464142 ) *
      I think it's stunning that you find that word overused.

    • Almost as bad as 'massive' - a massively overused adjective these days.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Kind of like using the word 'officially'

      • This one always bothered me. For something to be 'official' there must be someone who officiates; ie. an official. So, when someone says "It's official: Apple is better than Linux!" I always wonder "from what office did the official in charge of determining what OS is the best dispatch this notice?

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Teancum ( 67324 )

          This one always bothered me. For something to be 'official' there must be someone who officiates; ie. an official. So, when someone says "It's official: Apple is better than Linux!" I always wonder "from what office did the official in charge of determining what OS is the best dispatch this notice?

          Perhaps the "official" was Al Gore?

          (*and ducks for cover*)

    • You'd prefer to discuss a cunning array of stunts?

  • Science is Beautiful (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Scorch_Mechanic ( 1879132 ) on Sunday August 14, 2011 @05:53PM (#37089060) Journal

    Sometimes, a picture out of one of the various space efforts really gets my attention.

    This is one of them.

    I'll be the first to admit that the math, the physics, the science, the expansion of the human sphere of knowledge are all extremely important and valid reasons for continuing to fund space missions (of any kind).

    But if you don't consider images like this to be a strong reason for continuing our exploits into space, then you aren't someone I want to reason with at all.

    • I wouldn't want to reason with you while you're all emotional anyway.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by rts008 ( 812749 )

      Hear! Hear!
      Most of my desktop backgrounds come www.nasa.gov's image gallery.
      The current one in use is titled "Sunrise over Mars", taken by one of the rovers.

      BTW for the curious:
      I tried to find it on NASA's image gallery, and failed(was going to link to it).
      A Google image search for that title found it. :-)
      This is it [google.com], but not the higher resolution image I got from NASA's sight a few years ago.

      That image blew my socks off! Wow! A picture from Mars I can relate to!
      I've seen many sunrises from good old planet E

      • Hear! Hear! Most of my desktop backgrounds come www.nasa.gov's image gallery. The current one in use is titled "Sunrise over Mars", taken by one of the rovers.

        BTW for the curious: I tried to find it on NASA's image gallery, and failed(was going to link to it). A Google image search for that title found it. :-) This is it [google.com], but not the higher resolution image I got from NASA's sight a few years ago.

        That image blew my socks off! Wow! A picture from Mars I can relate to! I've seen many sunrises from good old planet Earth, but from another planet?!?!? It gives me goose bumps!

        Speaking of which, I've been looking all over for a high resolution version of that beautiful image. Would you mind posting it somewhere to share? :)

        • See if images.google.com and the camera button (pasting in the link to the low res one) turns anything up. I would try but I am typing from a phone, where google doesn't make that feature available.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by rts008 ( 812749 )

          See Russ1642's reply to my same comment for the correct link. Thanks 'Russ1642'!

      • Image Source (Score:4, Informative)

        by josh washington ( 1104565 ) on Sunday August 14, 2011 @07:39PM (#37089758)

        At the risk of being modded off-topic, here's the higher-resolution image [nasa.gov] mentioned by rts008 and JavaBasedOS for anyone interested.

        It's actually sunset, as NASA mentions here [nasa.gov]. If you haven't seen it, it's worth a look.

        I agree that, for all the advancements in knowledge that NASA and ESA develop, images such as these are what best capture children's imaginations and inspire them. This is what fuels dreams and fosters a desire to contribute to our* space program. Hopefully the image of this meteor inspires someone to pursue studies in a space-related career!

        * - our = humanity's collective space program as a whole, because it doesn't matter if a child is from the US, the UK, the EU, China, India - we're all in this together, alone here on this rock.

        Related: Pale Blue Dot [wikimedia.org]
        Earth and the moon from Mars [nasa.gov]

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by rts008 ( 812749 )

          Thanks for the link, and again thanks for the sunset correction.
          I blame that one on a flaky memory, and lazy search efforts by myself. :-)

        • Why did you go to a secure wikimedia rather than a regular wikipedia?
          I have seen other posters do it as well.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by cusco ( 717999 )
          On their world tour after the Apollo 11 mission Buzz Aldrin remembered being surprised at hearing people from all over the world exclaim "We made it!", as though it were not the US that had gone to the moon but HUMANITY as a whole. I believe the landing broadcast still holds the world record for the largest percentage of televisions worldwide tuned to the same program simultaneously. It was even carried live in the USSR and North Vietnam and on the few televisions allowed in China. A rather inspiring tho

  • Is that the moon in the background?

  • Looks like the Earth's shield is up (Score:3)

    by turing_m ( 1030530 ) on Sunday August 14, 2011 @09:18PM (#37090334)

    That atmosphere does a pretty darn good job of protecting us. Intercepting space debris, to blocking radiation, to providing us oxygen - it does it all.

  • Nikon FTW! Suck it, Canon!

    BTW : Impressive picture.

  • I must be too young to find this photo as 'stunning' as TFS portrayed it. I slept in a space shuttle tent when I was 3-4 years old. Perhaps we whippersnappers don't think space travel is as 'magical' as you grey/neckbeards do... The photo looked exactly as I would have expected it to, being positioned above and away from something that is entering the atmosphere. Maybe if the astronaut captured one whizzing by just inches from the porthole...

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