As you would probably expect from the space agency, NASA has always been at the forefront of visual technology. In 2017, NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer broadcast a live broadcast from the International Space Station using 4K ultra-high definition technology – the next generation standard for video – for the first time.
Using 4K provides incredibly sharp image quality, with a horizontal screen resolution of up to 4,000 pixels (the horizontal pixel count of the previous 1080P high definition standard was 1,920). The ISS’s 4K high-definition camera has the ability to record up to 300 frames per second – compare that to the 60 frames per second of a next-generation smartphone – while the main mirror of the Hubble Telescope, which is what the Telescope uses for capturing space images and transmitting it back to Earth, can collect about 40,000 times more light than the human eye. Using these technologies, in addition to ultra-high-definition equipment in other spacecraft, NASA began capturing hours and hours of 4K images, offering a fascinating video gallery of immersive images, as well as generating recreations of past events in renderings of High definition .
Although you obviously only get the full benefits of 4K if you watch these shots on a 4K-compatible screen, the videos are still attractive on standard screens.
Here is a small selection of our favorite 4K space videos.
On April 17, 2016, an active region on the right side of the sun launched a mid-level solar flare. This event was captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, a spacecraft from NASA’s Living With a Star mission that has been observing the sun since 2010. This video is particularly special, as the explosion was captured at various wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light, which is typically invisible to our eyes, but is shown in different color-coded images on Solar Dynamics Observatory images for easy viewing. (Each different shaded montage you see was captured in a different spectrum of light.) The footage is accompanied by Greg Lehrman’s song aptly called “Collide”.
The incredible phenomenon of the Northern Lights is something that some of us can only dream of being lucky enough to see in person. However, thanks to the International Space Station’s UHD camera, we can enjoy one of the best views on the planet from our own homes. This short video uses time lapses filmed from the International Space Station and shows the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis phenomena that occur when electrons and electrically charged protons in the Earth’s magnetic field collide with neutral atoms in the upper atmosphere.
This video uses data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft that currently orbits the moon to recreate some of the stunning views that Apollo 13 astronauts saw on their journey around the opposite side in 1970. These accelerated 4K views show many different views of the lunar surface starting with the configuration of the earth – the Earth’s apparent scenery below the lunar horizon – and the sunrise and ending with the moment when Apollo 13 re-established radio contact with Mission Control after losing it when it was behind from the moon.
Also shown is the path of the free return path around the moon when the spacecraft left towards Earth. It’s a fascinating glimpse into the wonders that Apollo 13 astronauts saw in real life. Music lovers can also check out the special edition version of the video, set in Claude Debussy’s “Clair de Lune” by the National Symphony Orchestra Pops, created as part of NASA’s 60th anniversary celebration.
Filmed in 2015, this innovative image at the time is from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, captured as part of a series of annual portraits of the outer planets of the solar system. The project was created to help current and future scientists to see how these giant worlds change over the years. At the time, it revealed details never before seen on Jupiter, including a rare wave just north of the planet’s equator and a unique filamentary feature in the center of the Great Red Spot.
“Sharing the incomparable silent beauty of our planet with all our fellow travelers on this, our Spaceship Earth,” said Russian astronaut Sergey Ryazansky of this video. He captured the images in this montage alongside other ISS inhabitants, Paolo Nespoli, from Italy, and American commander Randy Bresnik. Defined as “The Sound of Silence” by Paul Simon, played by Disturbed, this 4K video features stunning images of the Earth from the International Space Station in low orbit during the months of August to October 2017.
6. Ocean Moon Glint and City Night Lights in 4K UHD
This video comprises time-lapse images taken by NASA astronaut Jack Fischer from the International Space Station in 4K UHD. The video shows the moonlight in the Pacific Ocean and the night lights from San Francisco, California, to Denver, Colorado. The moon’s glow occurs when the moon’s light reflects off the surface of a sea or ocean at an angle and creates a rare glow of light, not something you see every day.
7. Europe from space in 4K
With this offer, NASA gives you the chance to take a tour of southern Europe in just three minutes. Apparently, that’s all the time it takes when you have a 4K camera orbiting the Earth 400 kilometers high. This ultra-high definition video was filmed in August 2016 while the International Space Station traveled about 1,600 kilometers, capturing views from above the west coast of France to the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, Switzerland, southern Germany and Austria, and the countries of the Balkan Peninsula.
This is a fascinating little clip to watch and bring home the absolute scale of the Universe. On November 11, 2019, (11/11/19!) NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory observed how Mercury moved along the sun. What is fascinating is how the tiny Mercury looks portrayed against the star. Mercury is the smallest planet in our solar system, measuring about 3,000 miles in diameter, but it looks like a mere marble in this video. The clip traverses the range of wavelengths of light at which the Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the event.
9. A flight through the CANDELS outermost research field [Ultra-HD]
This impressive visualization takes us six billion light years away to traverse the field of the CANDELS Ultra Deep Survey to show the different galaxies and their three-dimensional distribution, although the distances have been reduced for cinematic purposes. CANDELS is an acronym for the Cosmic Assembly Near-infrared Deep Extragalactic Legacy Survey project, and is one of the largest projects ever made with the Hubble Space Telescope.
10. NASA’s thermonuclear art – the Sun in Ultra-HD (4K)
This absolutely fascinating video offers about 30 minutes of footage of the sun’s surface. From images from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which monitors the star 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, these images are captured at 10 different wavelengths, each of which helps to highlight a different temperature of the solar material. Observe the flow of particles called solar wind, occasional eruptions of giant clouds of solar material, called coronal mass ejections, and X-ray explosions called solar flares.
11. The Earth: 4K Extended Edition
If you can’t get enough of Earth, this extended reproduction of ultra-high-definition views of our planet captured by NASA astronaut Jeff Williams during his mission to the International Space Station in 2016 is for you. It offers an entire hour of views of the ISS, in which you can see the entire planet from 400 kilometers high. Williams is an excellent choice for gathering his favorite footage – he spent more than 530 days living and working on the ISS.
12. 4K video of colored liquid in space
Finally, fun from within the ISS itself. Astronauts at the International Space Station dissolved an effervescent tablet in a floating water ball and captured images using a 4K camera. RED’s Epic Dragon camera, a digital cinema company, can capture a fantastically high frame rate and super high quality resolution, creating some incredible effects.