This all-sky image shows 22 months of X-ray data recorded by NASA's Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) payload aboard the International Space Station (@ISS) during nightly rotations between targets.

NICER's primary objectives require it to target and track cosmic sources as the space station orbits the Earth every 93 minutes. But when the Sun sets and night falls over the orbiting outpost, the NICER team keeps its detectors active as the instrument moves from one target to another, which can happen as many as eight times per orbit.

Each arc tracks X-rays captured during these nocturnal motions, as well as occasional impacts from energetic particles. The brightness of each point in the image is a result of these contributions, as well as the time NICER spends looking in that direction. Even far from bright sources, a diffuse glow permeates the X-ray sky.

Image description:

A network of orange filaments connecting a series of bright spots on a black background. The bright spots show where the filaments intersect and are sources in the sky where NICER frequently points its telescope. The loops between these points reveal the path that NICER's telescope takes between these sources. Image "Credit: NASA/NICER" watermark.