Stunning New Photo from the Space Station: The Moon Ushers in Dawn

universetoday.com ^ | May 1, 2013 | Nancy Atkinson on

[BenLurkin]

During his evening ritual of sharing images taken from the International Space Station, Commander Chris Hadfield posted this gem: a gorgeous night-time view of the southeastern United States, with the Moon hovering over Earth’s limb and the terminator separating night from day. Dawn is just beginning to break to the east, as the ISS flies overhead.

This image reflects the ‘wistful’ feelings Hadfield is having as his time in space in coming to a close. He and his two crewmates Tom Marshburn and Roman Romanenko will head back to Earth on May 13.

During a recent linkup with students, Hadfield said he is becoming “wistful” as he does tasks aboard the ISS, realizing he is doing some for the last time. He is trying to spending as much of his free time gazing out the window at Earth “because of the magnificent rarity of it and my desire to absorb as much of it as I possibly can.”

[BenLurkin]

I don't know about "stunning" but it is kinda neat.

Apparently the moon is the little tiny white dot on the rim of the blue crescent.

[cripplecreek]

Hadfield gallery.

https://twitter.com/Cmdr_Hadfield/media/grid

[cripplecreek]

I think his best shots are of the great lakes with the sun reflecting off the water.

[BenLurkin]

Great pics!

Thanks for the link!

[Nifster]

that doesnt make sense. he has other shots of about same scale showing moon larger....are we sure this isn’t just some space flotsam?

[BenLurkin]

It’s the moon.

[Rebelbase]

The pic looks apocalyptic with burning cities below.

[NCC-1701]

It’s what America will look like in the post-Obama inspired riots. Pretty from that vantage spot, not so much from ground level.

[count-your-change]

Thanks! I’ve been scrubbing my screen trying to get that spot off.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks BenLurkin.

[dr_lew]

Yes, the "old" moon. I've been trying to figure out when this was taken. There are, of course, a restrictive set of circumstances required. I'm using Starry Night, which has an altitude setting for the view location, and an estimate of the ground point of the ISS to match up with the ISS tracker. For that I used Google Earth to try to simulate the view of the coast. I believe that's Atlanta in the midground and Nashville closer in. I believe the arc of lights below the moon is the Durham Raleigh area around the dark Cape Hatteras coastline.

It's close to working out for early April, but I can't get the moon up in time for the ISS in that position. March looks way off, but how old could this be? I guess anytime since he went up there. Let's see ... since Dec 21, 2012.

Ah! Feb 6 at 8:10 UT looks perfect. That's gotta be it, unless I'm doing something wrong.

[houeto]

I don't know about "stunning" but it is kinda neat.

I think it is quite stunning BenLurkin. Magnificent even.

Matter of fact, it is my new wallpaper. I just wish I knew how to make it fill the screen.

Thank you for the ping SunkenCiv.

[houeto]

Darn, I thought I had you pinged for post #12. Sorry.

BTW, you know anything about how to make the thing screen sized?

[Cyber Liberty]

I’d be wistful too if I knew I was about to go on a ride in one of those Russian rattletraps.

[dr_lew]

Ah! Feb 6 at 8:10 UT looks perfect. That's gotta be it, unless I'm doing something wrong.

... Or maybe the next morning, Feb 7 at 9:00 UT works out a little better. I didn't really follow up with the Google Earth view for the Feb 6 track and I think the ISS was a little too far west at moonrise.

[dr_lew]

The happens for me when I click on the universetoday image from IE9. That puts into Hadfields twitter page

[cripplecreek]

A personal favorite of mine. Looking west with Lake Ontario in the foreground, Georgian bay, Lake Huron, Michigan and Lake Michigan in the distance.

[sphinx]

Isn't wonderful that our good friends abroad are still willing to give us a lift into space now and then?

Maybe someday the U.S. can have a manned space program of our own ....

[martin_fierro]

Stuning.

[BenLurkin]