In the background, the gassy, oblong Milky Way is visible.
The Milky Way is seen edge-on, meaning that the photo looks across the galaxys diameter.
Williams and Wilmore have featured prominently inrecent headlinesbecause they have been stuck in space.
Earth (right) and the Milky Way (left).Image: NASA/Don Pettit
Williams and Wilmore are currently expected to return to Earth in March on a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
The day after this photo was taken, Williams and Wilmore conducted a 5.5-hour spacewalk.
So its not like the astronauts are wasting their time in the ISS as they await their return.
Meanwhile, Pettits photo enters a unique pantheon of images of our planet taken from orbit.
Pettit also authored aremarkable shotof Earth with two satellite galaxies in the background back in December.
By the looks of it, the recent surreal shot of Earth made use of the same technology.
Pettit was able to capture a clear view of the stars from low-Earth orbit.
For the record, I can do that too.
And I dont need zero gravity to make it happenjust ask my three pairs of torn pants.
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