Quite a view A NASA astronaut may have just taken the best photo from spaceever During his third stay in orbit, Pettit is absolutely killing it. Eric Berger Jan 14, 2025 10:46 am | 18 An image of the Earth, with cities streaking by below, captured earlier this month by NASA Astronaut Don Pettit. Credit: Don Pettit/NASA An image of the Earth, with cities streaking by below, captured earlier this month by NASA Astronaut Don Pettit. Credit: Don Pettit/NASA Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn morePeople who appreciate good astrophotography will no doubt be familiar with the work of Don Pettit, a veteran NASA astronaut who is closing in on having lived 500 days of his life in space.Pettit is now in the midst of his third stint on the International Space Station, and the decade he had to prepare for his current stay in orbit was put to good use. Accordingly, he is well stocked on cameras, lenses, and plans to make the most of six months in space to observe the planets and heavens from an incredible vantage point.Ars has previously written admiringly of Pettit's work, but his latest image deserves additional mention. When I first saw it, I was dazzled by its beauty. But when I looked further into the image, there were just so many amazing details to be found.In this image, one can see the core of the Milky Way galaxy, zodiacal light (sunlight diffused by interplanetary dust), streaks of SpaceX Starlink satellites, individual stars, an edge-on view of the atmosphere that appears in burnt umber due to hydroxide emissions, a near-sunrise just over the horizon, and nighttime cities appearing as streaks.Pettit said he took the image from the port-side window of Crew Dragon Freedom, which brought two astronauts to the International Space Station last year and will bring Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams back to Earth next spring.Putting all of this together, I think Pettit's streaky image may be the best picture ever taken from the International Space Station. Disagree?Eric BergerSenior Space EditorEric BergerSenior Space Editor Eric Berger is the senior space editor at Ars Technica, covering everything from astronomy to private space to NASA policy, and author of two books: Liftoff, about the rise of SpaceX; and Reentry, on the development of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon. A certified meteorologist, Eric lives in Houston. 18 Comments