Stars timelapse

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:

“We’ve had some amazing night passes recently. If you lounge in the Cupola and get your face really close to the windows, you can avoid seeing the Space Station structure and just look at Earth rotating underneath, glittering with city lights, like a giant disco ball. What a magical feeling. I took pictures for a timelapse of these passes too…”

Over 200 experiments are planned during Thomas’ time in space, with 40 European ones and 12 new experiments led by France’s 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.