Today I am on prompt, but only by a fluke. The idea was On The Edge and it doesn't get much more on edge than this. This photo may not look like much but that streak in the middle represents one of the greatest achievements of all mankind; it's the International Space Station. Let's take a moment to reflect on what this means. That streak of light is is an inhabited, man-made, 100 metre diameter science facility orbiting 200 miles above the surface of our little planet at 17,000 mph. There are 6 human beings currently living and working on it in what is now its 12th year of constant inhabitation.
That is amazing.
That's us. That's what humans can do when we put our mind to it. When we're not busy killing each other or trying to screw each other over we can come together and do awesome things, just to satisfy our curiosity; because we can.
My photo, in of itself, is not a good one; but in fairness this is my first ever attempt at photographing a moving target in the night sky from a car park. The bright blob is the moon and the 'star' to the right of the trail is the planet Jupiter. It's a 13 second exposure and one of only two I was able to get before it streaked off into the eastern horizon.
One of the current inhabitants of station is a Canadian, Commander Hadfield. He isn't the first person to go up there with a camera but he is certainly the first to produce so many impressive images of the Earth and the station at large and publicise them. I highly recommend his Tumblr feed.
If you want to see the man-made wonder for yourself then it's pretty easy. There are loads of apps on your phone that you can download that will alert you, just search. You can also use the Heavens Above website which is an excellent resource for tracking many objects in the sky. It'll definitely be handy later in the year when comet ISON starts getting excitingly close.
Eyes to the skies, people.
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