First Ever Vine From Space, Shot by NASA Astronaut Reid Wiseman, Opens Dialogue Into Complexities of the Earth's 'Terminator Line'
ByFor the first time, an astronaut has posted a Vine video from space and none other than NASA's Reid Wiseman was behind it.
Vine is a social media app that allows users to shoot videos at clips of no longer than six seconds. Wiseman's latest post is a time lapse of the International Space Station (ISS) making one trip around the Earth.
Wiseman has been previously labeled as a "must-follow" due to his frequent posts on Twitter, making his profile a large photo stream of images taken from above. His six-second Vine video, despite being the first of its kind, has also opened an illuminating discussion into the Earth's "terminator line."
According to io9.com, the terminator line is the division between where the Earth is light and dark. Due to the "axial tilt," or the crooked way the Earth spins as it orbits the sun, the terminator line wobbles back and forth, exposing each pole to the sun one after the other. This tilt is what gives the Earth its seasons.
In the message accompanying Wiseman's video, the astronaut indicated the ISS was orbiting the Earth parallel to the terminator line, giving off the effect that the sun was not setting. However, as seen in the video, the sun appears to complete a full circle above the Earth's horizon. When the ISS is not aligned with the terminator line, io9 noted, the crew can see as many as 16 sunrises and sunsets in a 24-hour period.
There are quite literally a lot of moving parts here, so if all this talk of axial tilting and orbiting is making your head spin, that is normal. Visit AstroBob.AreaVoices.com for some images and explanations that will help make sense of it all.
"The terminator is the boundary between day and night on the planet, and the equator cuts perpendicular to the axis. The space station's tipped orbit places it very near the terminator this time of year, high enough for it to catch the sun's rays all night long," astronomy enthusiast Bob King wrote on his website. "For sky watchers that means that virtually every time the station comes over your house this time of year, you'll see it shining in sunlight even in the middle of the night. Depending on your particular location, five passes a night are possible. Amazing!"