Astronauts aboard ISS had chance to celebrate New Year’s Eve 16 times
An image of International Space Station in outer space.
Well, many of those who partied hard on New Year's may be regretting their decision because of the hangover. But once the clutches of alcoholic after-effects decide to free you, you are ready to party again. But even the most hardcore partygoers would not dare to face this challenge. How about having 16 New Years' Party in a single day? Tough right? But if partying would be high on the list of astronauts at the International Space Station (ISS), they would really have been able to do it.
The reason?
They witness 16 sunrises and sunsets in a 'single day' aboard the ISS.
The images of ISS make it look like it's a piece of (ridiculously advanced) machinery floating in space in serenity.
But in reality, it is always travelling at mind-numbing speed of 28,000 km per hour!
This huge speed means that it takes only an hour and a half for the International Space Station to take a merry round around the Earth. This means unlike the average 12 hour of daylight and 12 hours of darkness on the surface of the Earth, the astronauts experience 45 minutes of daylight and 45 minutes of darkness. And the cycle starts again.
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This means that in one day, the International Space Station revolves around the Earth 16 times in 24 hours. And this in turn, accounts for the 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets.
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Partying aside, the 45 minutes of sunlight and 45 minutes of darkness enables astronauts to carry out scientific experiments. These experiments are from diverse field such as microbiology to metallurgy and more. Conditions aboard International Space Station offer unique opportunity as these experiments can be carried out in zero gravity, something that's not possible on Earth due to gravitational force. Creating zero-gravity conditions on the surface of Earth requires special arrangements.
(With inputs from agencies)