Starship Asterisk*

Where's all the space junk?

At 2:56 Atlanta is in the center, heading southeast toward the Caribbean Sea ringed by small islands at 3:02-3.

Thanks for the vimeo; makes you want to be on board! A little humor too as when you click on re-orienting

Please please add the SHARE tabs so that people can post APOD at Facebook Twitter etc easily and send to friends! These are so wonderful!

As beautiful as it is, it also says volumes about light pollution!

Please replace the music. That track has hisses and pops like it was recorded from an old phonograph record.

Tszabeau wrote:Where's all the space junk?

As I mentioned earlier, you can see several passing satellites at around 1:40. They would need to be in sunlight to show well, and not moving either too slow or too fast in the timelapse. This view is toward the pole and I assume they are far enough away and higher up so they are catching the sun.

A lot of these timelapses are near sunrise/sunset, and the ISS is in a relatively low orbit - so just like on earth I think these would be good conditions to see satellites - except they have the potential to be a lot closer and brighter.

zloq

2:41 , is Egypt and that long light line is the river nile, right after it is the Red sea.

Amazing stuff. Those side views of writhing aurora... There are no words. And that is one bright India-Pakistan border.

Steve Dutch wrote:Please replace the music. That track has hisses and pops like it was recorded from an old phonograph record.

Not to start a flame war over musical taste, but I thought it fit extremely well The hisses and pops are intentional. It's glitchy electronic ambient music. It sounds like zero-G (to me).

ellesmith wrote:Please please add the SHARE tabs so that people can post APOD at Facebook Twitter etc easily and send to friends! These are so wonderful!

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What is the circular light in the upper left of the screen from about 3:20 to 3:25? It can't be something on the Earth itself, since it's keeping pace with the ISS. It almost looks like a spotlight shining from the ISS but I can't imagine that's what it would be. Anyone know?

2:25 Night passage over central Africa, the Nile river, the Sinai peninsula and desert, Israel and Jordan, …

I'm one who doesn't object to the music.

Pausing the video around 2:18 and a few second later and again between 4:37 and about 4:45 shows unexpected structure to what I assume are lightning strikes. Lightning strikes at other places in the video take on a more natural appearance when looked at them (pausing the video). Maybe it's an artifact of image processing?

2:00 to 2:04 Western Med. to Italy
2:49 to 3 min Alberta Ca. to Bahamas
3:18 to 3:25 Hong Kong (SE China) to Philippines
4:02 to 4:13 Washington State to Gulf of Mexico

Amazing video, I look forward to using it in my classes.

I wondered myself about the strip of orange colored lights, which has been identified as the border between Pakistan and India. The orange color is likely from low-pressure sodium lamps, which are often used for outdoor lighting applications. While the color rendering isn't great, they offer great lifetime and good efficiency (lot's of light for not as much electricity).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium-vapor_lamp

At 1:23 ISS passes over Baja California. Mexico City to the east.

If JPL can get New Horizons to do that in 2015 ............................

Pegasus wrote:What is the circular light in the upper left of the screen from about 3:20 to 3:25? It can't be something on the Earth itself, since it's keeping pace with the ISS. It almost looks like a spotlight shining from the ISS but I can't imagine that's what it would be. Anyone know?

There is something similar around 3:50 that I mentioned earlier. It is very strange because it really seems like it is some kind of water/cloud reflection, but I don't know how it could track the ground like that. People have recorded glory-like things from the ISS, looking down at the ground 180 degrees away from the sun - but a glory-like retro-reflection would change angle relative to the earth below because the sun (or moon or whatever) angle would be changing.

You could also see a spot directly below the ISS - possibly - as a specular reflection off the water surface - but that would only be when looking straight down - and the ISS would have to be in sunlight while the earth below is dark.

It seems very weird to have anything locked in the view direction as the shuttle orbits around the earth.

My only explanation is some kind of double reflection where the earth features reflect off the camera lens and then reflect off the window. Then, as the surface features change, the little reflection would appear to change also. It's a stretch, but it does allow the blob to change as the scenery changes, and to stay in one place in the view. The fact that it looks like a reflection off the water would then be just an illusion.

zloq

An absolutely fascinating video!
I noticed the following:
0:50 - the constellation of Orion rising at the left
1:02 - the constellation of Orion rising in the center
1:17 - the constellation of Orion rising at the far left
2:40 - the constellation of Orion rising at the right, Egypt's Nile River and the Red Sea
4:20 - the constellation of Orion rising at the left
There were numerous auroras throughout the 5 minute video.
There were also many occurrences of lightning flashes from thunder storms particularly at 1:20, 1:29, 2:52 and 3:19.

Many thanks.

There is something similar around 3:50 that I mentioned earlier. It is very strange because it really seems like it is some kind of water/cloud reflection, but I don't know how it could track the ground like that.

Yes, it's the same kind of thing. I hadn't caught that one.

My only explanation is some kind of double reflection where the earth features reflect off the camera lens and then reflect off the window. Then, as the surface features change, the little reflection would appear to change also. It's a stretch, but it does allow the blob to change as the scenery changes, and to stay in one place in the view. The fact that it looks like a reflection off the water would then be just an illusion.

I too wondered if it might be something about a reflection off the window but couldn't figure out how that would work, since it seems to illuminate the features on (or close to) the surface rather than being on the window. You might be right about the double reflection, but it does seem like a stretch. It's more plausible than any theory I can think of though.

This may be redundant data, but lighting in the clouds always catches my eye:

1:22
2:55
3:20-30
3:50-55
4:17
4:30
4:35-49

-Robby

That most reminded me of the final sequence in 2001, the unearthly landscape that Dave flies over, referred to as "Beyond the Infinite": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Imbxqv_5TJU

John

johnrpc wrote:At 0:37, Chicago and the southern tip of Lake Michigan are seen in the top center of the screen.

Hmm. On my viewing Chicago comes over the horizon at 0:18.

The bright lights to the right and below Chicago are probably St. Louis.

astromenna wrote:2:41 , is Egypt and that long light line is the river nile, right after it is the Red sea.

Also earlier, at 2:24, coming up from the southwest, then sweeping towards the Caspian.

That's Israel at 2:26 just left of top center.

My best guesses after that are:
2:29: Baghdad passing by on the right, followed shortly by Tehran.
2:31: The bright spot in the middle looks to be Baku, in Azerbaijan, and the little red lights above and to the right of it are ships and other features on the Caspian Sea.

Just after 0:37, the next light cluster after Chicago is (probably for sure) the Atlanta GA light cluster ... could imagine my cabin 4 hours north via snailcar in the Blue Ridge Mountains!