Thursday, January 29, 2026
HomeOperational DomainEarth OrbitMilky Way on the Horizon

Milky Way on the Horizon

The Milky Way galaxy, filled with stars, is on the left side of the image. On the right side, Earth looks like a giant green marble with a bright curved outline (Earth's atmosphere).
NASA/Don Pettit

NASA astronaut Don Pettit used a camera with low light and long duration settings to capture this Jan. 29, 2025, image of the Milky Way appearing beyond Earth’s horizon. At the time, the International Space Station was orbiting 265 miles above the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Chile just before sunrise.

Pettit is part of the Expedition 72 crew, along with NASA astronauts Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Nick Hague. The orbital residents are exploring a variety of space phenomena to benefit humans on and off the Earth including pharmaceutical manufacturing, advanced life support systems, genetic sequencing in microgravity, and more.

Read the Space Station blog to follow their activities.

Image credit: NASA/Don Pettit

Source: NASA

YOU MIGHT LIKE

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Sent every Monday morning. Quickly scan summaries of all articles published in the previous week.

Most Popular

Featured

FAST FACTS