Indian-origin NASA astronaut Anil Menon gives a sneak peek of the aurora light from space

An Indian-origin astronaut from NASA, Anil Menon, has given us a view of the unbelievable speed of space travel through the analogy of aurora and nighttime images from space. This post contains real-time and time-lapse images to demonstrate the effect of recording the same thing in different ways. The movement is seen slowly in real time, but astronauts are moving around Earth at the speed of 17,500 miles per hour.

Anil Menon explains the speed of an orbit around earth

Anil Menon uploaded time-lapse images of a small aurora as well as night orbit images shot in real time. He illustrated through the comparison that objects tend to appear to move faster in time-lapse photography compared to images captured in real time.

The live video, without any form of time-lapse, painted an entirely different scenario. It seemed to be moving much more slowly, despite the fact that the speed of motion was still very fast. According to Anil Menon, "Though it looks a lot slower, we are really going fast. 17,500 mph fast." One person commented, "Real time looks calm because the ground is 250 miles down, same reason a jet at cruise seems to crawl across the sky. Then you notice a sunrise every 90 minutes and the speed sinks in." Another person wrote, "does real time ever stop looking slow up there?"

Who is Anil Menon?

Anil Menon is an Indian-born NASA astronaut, emergency medicine doctor, and a lieutenant colonel in the United States Space Force. Anil Menon was chosen by NASA as part of its class of astronauts of 2021. Having undergone rigorous astronaut training for over two years, Anil became qualified for long-duration spaceflight on the International Space Station.

He was born and brought up in the US, and he has Indian and Ukrainian ancestry. His father comes from India, but his mother hails from Ukraine. He studied neurobiology at Harvard University. Later on, he acquired his master’s degree in mechanical engineering at Stanford University. He also received his medical degree and became an expert in emergency medicine.

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