Timelapse video made during ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet’s second mission to the International Space Station, “Alpha”. The camera is setup to take pictures at intervals of two a second, and the pictures are then edited into this video that plays at 25 pictures a second. The video is around 12 times faster than real speed.
Thomas shared this video on social media with the caption:
“The Moon has been shining brightly these last few days and reflects off the night side of Earth. Yes for us there is the night side and the bright side, we alternate between seeing the night-side of Earth and its day-side on each 90-minute orbit. It brings a whole new type of jet-lag... space-lag? ESA has run research into the circadian rhythms of astronauts, because the Space Station is a unique environment where we spend six months or more in artificial lighting with no "natural" day!“
Over 200 experiments are planned during Thomas’ time in space, with 40 European ones and 12 new experiments led by the French space agency CNES.
Latest updates on the Alpha mission can be found via @esaspaceflight on Twitter, with more details on ESA’s exploration blog via thomaspesquet.esa.int.
Background information on the Alpha mission is available at www.esa.int/MissionAlpha with a brochure at www.esa.int/AlphaBrochure.