Star Trails

Everyone here at work views astronaut Don Petit as one of the coolest astronauts out there.  Seriously, this guy goes out of his way to be as helpful and informative as possible while he's up on the space station, doing work that normally takes up to 2 astronauts in half the time.  And he's so frickin' agreeable too!  Needless to say, quite a few of the ISS Mission Control supporters down here in Houston were a little sad to see him leave the space station when his expedition finished up. 

Now I learn that in addition to completing huge amounts of very accurate and helpful work on ISS, he also had time to work on his photography skills on the side!  Check out these incredible long exposure pictures that he took up on ISS of the orbiting earth, including light trails from cities, auroras, and lightening storms!

Once again, way to go Don, you're awesome!!!

(pictures from here)