This image of home just came down from the Artemis II crew.
Taken after their translunar injection burn, there are aurorae at top right and lower left, and zodiacal light at lower right.
Credit: NASA/Reid Wiseman
// That’s home. That’s us.
-–
Alternative references of better image quality mentioned in comments by @[email protected]:
- https://images.nasa.gov/details/art002e000192;
- https://images-assets.nasa.gov/image/art002e000192/art002e000192~orig.jpg [5568 x 3712]
AFAIK anything past 32,000 is digitally expanded (which could be done with RAW post-processing).
EDIT:
See: https://www.photonstophotos.net/Charts/RN_ADU.htm#Nikon D5_14,Sony ILCE-1M2_14
The old Nikon D5, impressively, doesn’t seem to do it even at ISO 102400
My 2015 Sony a7s2 has “native” iso to 102400, and expanded to 409600, but it was a special full frame low light sensor and it’s only 12MP (most from back then were 20-30MP with the same sized sensor.
From Wikipedia:
Also apparently one was installed on the ISS
Apparently they are using Sony going forward:
https://sonyaddict.com/2026/04/01/breaking-nasa-selects-sony-as-official-imaging-partner-for-artemis-lunar-program-the-first-new-moon-camera-in-over-50-years/sony-in-space/
“Old” high-end DSLRs are aging well, digital photography has been in the diminishing returns for a while now. You’re almost surely getting better pictures out of a 10 year old flagship than a brand new mid-level camera, and the “thoroughly tested” part matters a lot in spaceflight
Still surprises me that it’s a D5 of all things, but then my main camera is only a year newer than that one. Not sure I’d use a DSLR at this point though.
For what it’s worth, they are switching to Sony: https://sonyaddict.com/2026/04/01/breaking-nasa-selects-sony-as-official-imaging-partner-for-artemis-lunar-program-the-first-new-moon-camera-in-over-50-years/sony-in-space/
Fairly well. The newest sensors do have better dynamic range, with some exceptions (like the fully stacked ones).
TBH they should probably take a medium-format Fuji with a brighter lens to space. Or an A7S like someone had above.