NASA Astronaut Captures Rare Picture Of The Moon Setting Over The Pacific, Internet Says ‘Perfect’

For all those fascinated by the solar system and the universe, the content posted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), on social media, is a treasure trove. Adding to this, astronaut Matthew Dominick has shared a rare picture of the moon setting over the Pacific. The image shows a beautiful sight of the heavenly body with blue hues from clouds and the earth’s atmosphere in the foreground. The now-viral image has garnered 511k views. Sharing this breathtaking view on X (formerly Twitter), Mathew wrote, “The moon setting over the Pacific. Went to the cupola to shoot Tropical Storm Hone near Hawaii but right after we passed by the storm the moon started to set.”

Mathew Dominick has also shared the technical aspects of the image. He wrote, “400mm, ISO 500, 1/20000s shutter speed, f2.8, cropped, denoised.” The beautiful shot has invited hundreds of comments from space lovers all over the world with users reacting with ‘Great Shot’, ‘Perfect’, and ‘Phenomenal’.

An impressed user noted, “This is absolutely mind-boggling.”

Another said, “Phenomenal! Thank you so much for sharing! Bravo!.”

A Science teacher humorously wrote, “You rock Matt! Maybe stay on an extra shift at the ISS to keep getting us these amazing shots?”

Another user observed, “And to think it still takes nearly 3 days to arrive on the moon. The vastness of space is so humbling and so beautiful.”

Mathew shared further details of the shot in the comments. Giving a sense of how fast the moon sets from our perspective, Mathew shared he kept shooting till the moon was gone. The posted image was shot at 21:34:45 GMT. The last image where he could see the moon was 14 seconds later at 21:34:59 GMT.

Mathew further highlighted that he was in the cupola for something else and spotted the moon at about 21:34:00 GMT and took the first shot at 21:34:13 GMT.