Star Trails by Donald Pettit
NASA astronaut Don Pettit gave citizens of Earth the greatest of gifts when he took photos of star trails, terrestrial lights, airglow and auroras from aboard the International Space Station. These four brand-new to 20x200 prints capture the wonder and mystery of space in a way that harkens back to the magic we felt as children, looking up to the night sky. 20x200's Jen Bekman first met Donald Pettit at PhotoShelter's Luminance conference in 2012. She was over the moon to discover she was seated next to him at the speaker dinner before the event. He told Jen how thrilled he was to talk about his photography and how he captured these shots.
jsc2012e052676 by Donald Pettit jsc2012e052683 by Donald Pettit
To get these star trail images, Pettit took multiple 30-second exposures from a mounted camera (mounted 240 miles above Earth, that is) and then stacked them using imaging software. He says, “If a picture is worth a thousand words and we take thousands of pictures, that certainly says something in terms of the magnitude of communication we can have in conveying this amazing environment to people on Earth, who are of course, the ones collectively who makes this happen, and we are the lucky ones that get to go into space.”
Astounding, jaw-dropping and awe-inspiring are just a few of the ways these images have been described. Get a piece of history today with your own edition.
With art for everyone,
Jen + team 20x200
