The most sensible rotation in the photo is the one of the ISS around Earth, not Earth's own rotation. The orbit doesn't need to be equatorial.
(Edit:) About your other question: the middle of the circles is the ISS's orbit pole.
(Edit 2:) OK, I get what you find weird: the fact that stars's circles and land ones don't have exactly the same pole. That's because Earth's rotation.
IIRC, a very low orbit object makes a circle in 90 minutes. I guess IIS is higher so it would orbit in a few hours. In these few hours the traces of land lights result from the composition of orbit and rotation, while the star's one only from the orbit. An angle of, let's say 20% of ISS orbit with equatorial plane would explain the difference.
BTW, I don't think the camera is rotating. Something, maybe an antenna shows in the photo against the star background. The ISS must be rotating in the same period of the orbit, so it always shows the same face to Earth's surface.
> BTW, I don't think the camera is rotating. Something, maybe an antenna shows in the photo against the star background. The ISS must be rotating in the same period of the orbit, so it always shows the same face to Earth's surface.
The camera would not be rotating with respect to the ISS. But the ISS, as you said, rotates with the same period as its orbit. The camera, being fixed to the ISS, therefore rotates with this same period in the same plane.
So, yes, the camera is rotating; hence, the star circles.
(Edit:) About your other question: the middle of the circles is the ISS's orbit pole.
(Edit 2:) OK, I get what you find weird: the fact that stars's circles and land ones don't have exactly the same pole. That's because Earth's rotation.
IIRC, a very low orbit object makes a circle in 90 minutes. I guess IIS is higher so it would orbit in a few hours. In these few hours the traces of land lights result from the composition of orbit and rotation, while the star's one only from the orbit. An angle of, let's say 20% of ISS orbit with equatorial plane would explain the difference.
BTW, I don't think the camera is rotating. Something, maybe an antenna shows in the photo against the star background. The ISS must be rotating in the same period of the orbit, so it always shows the same face to Earth's surface.