‘Star Wars’ Moon setting over Pacific: Photo by NASA astronaut on SpaceX mission goes viral | Check pic

Matthew Dominick, the NASA astronaut who is renowned for sharing incredible pictures captured from space, is making headlines again. The astronaut currently at the International Space Station (ISS) is in the spotlight for capturing another remarkable photo of the moon setting over the Pacific.

Taking to social media platform X (formerly Twitter), the NASA astronaut aboard the SpaceX Crew-8 mission posted a picture of the moon with the caption, “The moon setting over the Pacific." The post further states, "Went to the cupola to shoot Tropical Storm Hone near Hawaii, but right after we passed by the storm, the moon started to set.”

The most recent viral image showcases a striking image of the celestial body with hues of blue in the foreground due to clouds and earth's atmosphere. Matthew Dominick, the US Navy test pilot, shared the post on Sunday, August 25, morning. Giving technical details about the splendid shot, he stated, “400mm, ISO 500, 1/20000s shutter speed, f2.8, cropped, denoised.”

With over 5.94 lakh views, the post has amassed more than 17,000 likes and continues to stir social media. Netizens were abuzz and strongly reacted to this post. One user questioned, “Excellent detail for 400mm. Do I assume 1/20000 is a typo.”

To this, Matthew Dominick replied, “Not a typo. f2.8 is a contributor. Also shooting bracketed shots at (5F, 1EV steps, 20 fps) because the moon sets quickly due to our orbital speed. Not a lot of time to adjust settings. Best just to shoot a lot."

He further noted that he took a series of shots till the moon was gone to show how fast the moon sets from our perspective. “The posted image was shot at 21:34:45 GMT,” the astronaut said. There was a difference of 14 seconds between the first and last shot.

Another user expressing concern said, “Always Nikon Z9?" Matthew Dominick responded that they mostly prefer Nikon Z9 over D5s to shoot stills and video. A third user commented, “Star Wars vibes.” A fourth user tweeted, “Phenomenal! Thank you so much for sharing! Bravo!” A fifth user wrote, “As an Astrophotographer, man that's one amazing shot!”

This picture of the Moon comes two days after India celebrated the first anniversary of the successful landing of ISRO's Chandrayan-3 spacecraft on the Moon.