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Things in space are not always what they seem. The question Why does there appear to be a 180-degree stereo microphone array outside the ISS? makes that clear.

What is this object shown to the right of astronaut Michael Foale in the BBC article The Astronaut Fighting to Save our Home in Space?

Michael Foale has spent more than a year in space on various missions (Credit: Nasa)

enter image description here

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    $\begingroup$ It's a loudsp.... uh, no. $\endgroup$
    – GdD
    Jan 8, 2018 at 21:44
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    $\begingroup$ It's a loudspeaker that emits the sound from the 180-degree stereo microphone! $\endgroup$ Jan 9, 2018 at 0:16
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    $\begingroup$ @OrganicMarble apparently it's this; i.stack.imgur.com/aonjC.jpg $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Jan 9, 2018 at 0:47

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It's a light, or a luminaire if you're from Quebec.

The lights are part of the ETVCG (External Television Camera Group).

enter image description here

The picture is from a presentation on the new high-def cameras, which can be found here.

The light pans and tilts with the cameras, as seen in this picture from the same presentation. enter image description here

You can see an ETVCG at the right of this picture from the STS-127 mission. It's watching the on-going robotic ops, probably the clearance between the shuttle arm and the Japanese module.

enter image description here

And here's a cropped version of that. You can see that the light appears to be on.

enter image description here

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    $\begingroup$ "Figure 6 - Various Pan and Tilt Configurations" looks like one Drill-O-Matic $\endgroup$
    – jkztd
    Jan 9, 2018 at 6:37

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