NASA astronaut Don Pettit has spent 590 days living in space, and even back on Earth, he continues to share breathtaking images from his time off the planet.
Over the weekend, Pettit shared a long-exposure photograph that captured the soft curve of Earth below, the glow of the planet's atmosphere, streaks of city lights and flashes of lightning from a thunderstorm. Hovering above it all: three galaxies.
Front and center is the Milky Way, the galaxy we call home. Two fainter companions appeared near the top of the image: the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.
These two galaxies orbit the Milky Way like distant cousins. Although they're visible from the Southern Hemisphere, they're far too faint to spot with the naked eye from most locations on Earth. From Pettit's vantage point more than 250 miles above the surface, they shined a bit more clearly.
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