An astronaut on the International Space Station photographed mysterious blue orbs in the sky last year. NASA’s Earth Observatory shared the photo last year too, shortly after it was taken. The photo was taken while the ISS was passing over Southeast Asia. Alien-looking orbs in nature aren’t as mysterious as you might think.
As the International Space Station orbits, the Earth Observatory watches our planet, looking for anything that can help scientists learn and better understand everything. Earlier, the observatory took a photo A newborn island in the Pacific Ocean. That photo, as well as this one of the mysterious blue orbs in the sky, could provide new data points for scientists to investigate.
The photograph of the mysterious blue orbs in the sky was taken by a member of the Expedition 66 crew and was obtained on October 30, 2021 – almost a year ago. The photo was taken with a Nikon D5 digital camera with a focal length of 28 millimeters, NASA’s Earth Observatory said in a post on its website.
Although the image may disturb anyone looking at it out of context, there is no need to fear the mysterious blue orbs. Instead, NASA says there are logical and sound reasons behind the existence of both spheres. The first orb near the bottom center of the image is a lightning strike.
These are usually hidden by clouds. However, because the clouds are not exceptionally heavy in that region of the world, an astronaut on the ISS was able to capture the mysterious blue orb in the sky you see in the image above.
The second mysterious orb visible along the right border of the image is actually the Moon. Our moon is a natural reflector of light – so it looks as bright as it does in the night sky. However, on this particular night, relative to the photographer, it appears more like a mysterious blue orb in the sky and less like the Moon we see every day.
Still, even with these more mundane explanations behind the spheres, it’s exciting to see these bright blue orbs floating in the sky, and the sight itself is quite mesmerizing. We hope that those aboard the International Space Station will continue to deliver exceptional photographs like these NASA is decommissioning the ISS Sometime in 2030.
