Japan’s “Spiral Top” Is Making Crazy Art in Space Right Now

Right now on the International Space Station there is a machine that makes crazy light spirals like the one pictured above.

This image was tweeted today by the ISS Japanese Commander Koichi Wakata:

Dont’ worry if you don’t read Japanese, he also tweeted a photo with an English caption a few minutes later:

The spirals are the product of the “Spiral Top,” a device with mounted LEDs that, as the name suggests, spins like a top, allowing for beautifully light-painted images like this one. Wakata also tweeted a photo of the device itself while it was stationary and not making beautiful light spirals.

You can see more photos of the Spiral Top in action on Dr. Takuro Osaka’s site.

(via Koichi Wakata on Twitter)

Meanwhile in related links

• Commander Wakata has a little robot friend in space with him, and its adorable
• NASA is using the Kinect and Oculus Rift to control robot arms
• There are a lot of great photos coming from the ISS lately

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Glen Tickle

Glen is a comedian, writer, husband, and father. He won his third-grade science fair and is a former preschool science teacher, which is a real job.

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