BENGALURU: Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, who returned from the International Space Station (ISS) recently after completing the Axiom-4 mission with three other astronauts, shared some of his stunning pictures of M42 (aka Orion Nebula), which he had taken from the Bengaluru sky.
The Orion Nebula is an interstellar cloud of gas and dust that is located in the Orion constellation. Shux on X said as the photographs clicked on the ISS will take some time to be received, verified and cleared because of the multiple space agencies’ involvement, he wanted to share his astrophotography story.
“I started into astrophotography upon returning to India after my first leg of training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre (GCTC) in Russia. The pictures in sequence are of the same interstellar object M42 (M Stands for Messier- Name of the catalogue that maintains all night sky objects),” Shux posted.
He added that over time, it has gotten better, and it is evident from the last photograph. “All the pictures were clicked from the night sky of Bengaluru,” he posted on X. Shux, who has turned into an inspiration for students and the youth keen on the space fraternity, posted an encouraging message, “Slow or fast, if you keep moving, progress is guaranteed.”
However, the images were taken from the Bengaluru sky, but were not mentioned. ISRO experts said that this constellation is clearly visible, even with the naked eye, during November and December, provided there is a clear dark sky. Experts said the knowledge of constellations is important for navigation, even for spacecraft.
Shux’s Axiom-4 mission ended on July 15 with a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast near San Diego. He was the mission pilot of the programme and had successfully docked the spacecraft Dragon into the ISS. He is the first Indian to stay on the ISS and the second Indian to be in space after Rakesh Sharma, 41 years ago.
ISRO scientists said the photographs he will carry from the ISS and of his training tenure will help ISRO and the space science fraternity.