NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day is a breathtaking shot of two Space Stations in Low Earth Orbit.
The International Space Station (ISS), which is the largest modular space station in low Earth orbit, was launched back on November 20, 1998. Since then, the ISS has been occupied by astronauts. hold to perform many experiments. Now, China has built its own space station called Tiangong on April 29, 2021. The station is located in low Earth orbit, 340 to 450 km above the Earth’s surface. This NASA Astronomy photo of the day shows these two Space Stations in low Earth orbit in a spectacular presentation with a starry background.
NASA explains the image, “On January 3, two spatial the station was illuminated by low-level sunlight The earth orbiting across this dark pre-dawn sky. Move from west to east (left to right) through China’s Tiangong composite time-lapse image Space station The above trace was taken more than an hour before sunrise locally. In the image, you can see the Celestial Palace passing directly below the inverted Big Dipper of the constellation Ursa Major near the top of its arc, and above the north pole Polaris on a starry background.
The image also shows the International Space Station tracing its own light trail in the dark sky just five minutes before the Tiangong Space Station. “Its trail begins just above the W-shape outlined by the bright stars of Cassiopeia near the northern horizon. The dramatic foreground spans an abandoned mine at Achada do Gamo in southeastern Portugal,” NASA explained.
Amazing facts about the ISS and Tiangong Space Station
Did you know that the members of the International Space Station (ISS) program include — the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan and the ten member states of the European Space Agency including Belgium, Denmark , France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland and the United Kingdom. However, China is absent from the ISS. As a result, China launched its own Tiangong space station. In 24 hours, the ISS makes 16 orbits around the Earth, passing through 16 sunrises and sunsets.
