🔬 Science 1d ago · The Long View

From roughly 400 kilometres above Earth, ISS astronauts experience about 16 sunrises every day—not because the Sun rises faster, but because the station races around the planet once every 90 minutes.

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From the ground, sunrise feels like something the Sun does. From the International Space Station, it becomes obvious that sunrise is mainly about the observer’s motion.
The station flies roughly 400 kilometres above Earth at close to 7.7 kilometres per second. At that speed it completes one circuit in about 90 minutes, repeatedly carrying its crew out of Earth’s shadow and into sunlight.
Divide 24 hours by roughly 90 minutes and the familiar number appears: about 16 orbits, with a sunrise and su

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