Star Trails | International Space Station

Star Trails | International Space Station

Expedition 74 flight engineer and NASA astronaut Chris Williams: "The International Space Station orbits the Earth about every 90 minutes. As it is orbiting, it is also rotating so that we keep our same orientation relative to the Earth’s surface, which causes the stars to move across the sky from our perspective. This can lead to an interesting star trail effect! This image is a 5-minute exposure from a port-facing window, showing how the stars are streaked into a ~20 degree arc centered on our axis of rotation."

Follow Expedition 74:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 74 Crew

Station Commander: Sergey-Kud Sverchkov (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineer: Sergei Mikaev

NASA Flight Engineer: Chris Williams

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada.

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center/C. Williams
Image Details: Z9/14mm
Release Date: Jan. 21, 2026

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