Don Pettit is on a roll. Just days after sharing a breathtaking shot of Earth, the American astronaut has followed up with an equally stunning shot of a waning crescent moon, or, as Pettit put it: “a glowing fingernail clipping in the sky.”
Glowing fingernail clipping in the sky; it’s the waning crescent moon. pic.twitter.com/zXxkz4k4BZ
— Don Pettit (@astro_Pettit) January 4, 2025
The striking image was captured from the International Space Station (ISS) 250 miles above Earth and also shows the glow of a sunrise — or sunset — over Earth.
Pettit, who at 69 is NASA’s oldest serving astronaut, arrived at the orbital outpost in September, and since then, he’s been dazzling his social media followers with a steady stream of impressive imagery showing Earth, space, and even a crewed SpaceX spacecraft heading home at high speed.
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Pettit is one of a number of astronauts who have earned a reputation for producing amazing photographic work while living and working aboard the space station.
The club also includes NASA’s Matthew Dominick, who departed the ISS in October following a six-month stay. During his time in orbit, Dominick took an astonishing half a million images, the best of which he posted on sites like X. Dominick also liked to share details about the camera, lens, and exposures that he used for each shot, giving photography enthusiasts back on terra firma some valuable insight into his work.
Another highly talented photographer to have visited the ISS is Thomas Pesquet. During his most recent stay at the space station in 2021, the French astronaut went to great lengths to ensure that he could capture some breathtakingly beautiful images of Earth from orbit.