A NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) showed how "earthshines" can effectively differentiate selfies that have been taken just mere seconds apart.
Scott Kelly first made use of the light coming from the North African desert to use as filter for his self-portraits from the space station. Then he followed this up with another selfie shot using the light emitting from the Mediterranean region as his filter.
The result demonstrated a contrast photographers and selfie-lovers may find interesting. As shown by Kelly, the photos taken with the light from the North African desert was more saturated with a reddish hue, while the other angle showed paler colors, with a bluish hue. Remember, these photos were taken with a short time difference.
Kelly shared these selfies over the weekend on his Twitter account as he was orbiting 220 miles above the earth. The ISS travels in space at five miles per seconds and it is quite visible in the Earth's skies, as it is the third brightest object in the atmosphere after the sun and the moon, according to WJCL News.
Kelly is on a one-year mission to study the effects of prolonged weightlessness on the body, according to Planetary Org. The information from this will be used for future space missions in Mars, which has been estimated to take 2.5 years.
A native of New Jersey, the astronaut is joined by Mickhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka, who are both from Russia. Kelly's twin brother, Mark, is also part of the space mission, guiding Scott and his crew from the NASA base back home.
#SaturdaySelfie Earth shine. Top-N. African desert, bottom- few seconds later over the Mediterranean #YearInSpace pic.twitter.com/QLNLOyYc9p
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) June 20, 2015
