NASA Joins Star Wars Day Celebration in Space: Lightsaber, Real Death Star, Tatooine and More

In honor of Star Wars Day, NASA is unveiling some of its favorite photographs captured by astronauts onboard the International Space Station.

According to a YouTube video caption, astronauts have taken more than 1.5 million images of Earth and space from the International Space Station and other spacecraft over the last six decades. The Earth Science and Remote Sensing (ESRS) department at NASA's Johnson Space Center has cataloged most of them.

NASA Astronauts Arrive At Kennedy Space Center Ahead Of Space-X Launch Test — CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA - MAY 20: Workers freshen up the paint on the NASA logo on the Vehicle Assembly Building before the arrival of NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley at the Kennedy Space Center on May 20, 2020 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The astronauts are scheduled to arrive today for the May 27th flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. They will be the first people since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011 to be launched into space from the United States. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The astronauts have used a variety of interchangeable lenses of varying focal lengths that provided unusual viewpoints. NASA shared the photos below to celebrate Star Wars Day.

Hubble Shares Double Lightsaber

NASA released a Hubble Space Telescope photograph of a shape it characterized as a "cosmic, double-bladed lightsaber" with a "Jedi-like mantle of dust" near the middle to commemorate the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015. A baby star is actually shooting twin jets, but the celestial lightsaber is a fantastical painting.

#MayThe4thBeWithYou! Hubble captured this view of a celestial “lightsaber” that’s called HH 24. But it’s not in a galaxy far, far away – it’s in our own Milky Way Galaxy, at a distance of about 1,350 light-years.

Find out more: https://t.co/ldZjHk5dNp #StarWarsDay pic.twitter.com/IbY9gPOXNp
— Hubble (@NASAHubble) May 4, 2021

Death Star Moon

Star Wars may be science fiction, but the world of Luke Skywalker and General Leia occasionally intersects with our own. This real-life space photo and location will carry the galaxy far, far away - closer to home.

Flying by the "Death Star," Saturn's moon Mimas! http://t.co/gvgsnDEBYC #MayThe4thBeWithYou #HappyStarWarsDay pic.twitter.com/dCTDiZxNpx
— NASA (@NASA) May 4, 2014

The Cassini spacecraft, which is observing Saturn and its moons for NASA, has returned several stunning images of the ringed planet and its moons. This striking view of Mimas, according to CNET, demonstrates that the rocky satellite is known as the "Death Star moon."

The photo was taken in late 2016. Mimas has a diameter of 246 miles (396 kilometers). With its concave dish, the huge oval crater resembles the Death Star. If Darth Vader saw this moon out there in orbit, he'd do a double-take.

Baby Yoda in Space

In late 2020, members of the SpaceX Crew-1 spacecraft launched to the International Space Station, but they weren't alone. The four astronauts brought a miniature Baby Yoda to serve as a gauge for when they entered microgravity after launch. The floating Grogu was a delightful addition to the expedition's crew. SpaceX posted a glamor shot of the Yoda toy on May 4, 2021, via its Twitter account.

#MayThe4thBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/1T7aXNZgkD
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 4, 2021

Crocheted Yoda

Roscosmos cosmonaut Ivan Vagner, with a Twitter handle @ivan_mks63, shared this adorable photograph of a crocheted Yoda talisman floating on the International Space Station on May 4, 2020. Vagner's wife created the miniature Yoda to remind him of his family and the Earth, as well as the iconic phrase "May the Force be with you."

I was often asked what would I take into space with me. These are the photos of my family and souvenirs. But the main thing for me is the Master Yoda talisman

My beloved wife crocheted it for me. Every time I look at it, the famous words come to my mind: #MayTheForceBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/DR8EjWdJ2n
— Ivan Vagner (@ivan_mks63) May 4, 2020

Tatooine, as Seen From Space

NASA's Earth Observatory shared a satellite view of Ajim, a fishing town on the Tunisian island of Djerba, on its official website in 2020. This was a popular Star Wars filming spot for the Mos Eisley cantina on the desert planet Tatooine. The Landsat 8 satellite provided a far-reaching view of the filming locations, which NASA highlighted in the annotated chart.

Tatooine from Space — Tatooine. NASA Earth Observatory

Authentic Tatooine

Tatooine is known for being Luke Skywalker's home world, as well as its two suns. There are worlds in the cosmos that are similar to it. Kepler-1647b is in a system with a secondary star transiting a main star, as shown in this artist's concept.

In 1977, Star Wars introduced the two-sun, “circumbinary” planet Tatooine — but astronomers didn’t know such solar systems existed.

🤯 Decades later, they began finding them! Our TESS mission discovered this two-sun planet in 2020: https://t.co/XV7JmdbFTy #MayTheFourthBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/vBbAqzVpcK
— NASA (@NASA) May 4, 2021

Kepler-1647b was one of the largest "circumbinary planets" ever discovered as of mid-2016. NASA's Kepler Space Telescope discovered it in data gathered.

Hoth

Hoth is an ice world. OGLE-2005-BLG-390 is a real location called "Hoth" by NASA scientists in honor of Star Wars' notoriously cold and snowy world. According to researchers, the surface temperature is estimated to be minus 364 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 220 Celsius). To withstand that kind of cold, you'd need a lot of tauntauns.

The planet Hoth is covered in ice ❄️ and snow. Here on Earth, ice and snow exist around the planet at the poles and high latitudes 🏔. We call this region the cryosphere. @NASA studies the cryosphere, and how it’s changing, from ships, satellites & airplanes. #MayTheFourth pic.twitter.com/WzsrV0F4Is
— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) May 4, 2019

This diagram above depicts how the earth would appear from that perspective.

Before anything else, NASA also shared a Star Wars Day Message on YouTube. May the fourth be with you!