Photos Taken From International Space Stations

International space stations such as NASA take thousands of images of Earth every year as part of their research. Here are some of the most stunning photos taken, capturing the sheer diversity of our beautiful planet.

Flight Engineer Thomas Pesquet from NASA’s Expedition 50 took this photo from low Earth orbit aboard the International Space Station (ISS). He was so proud of the shot, he shared it to social media. He said “the Rocky mountains are a step too high – even for the clouds to cross.”

The bright night lights of Dubai must have been an incredible sight when the Expedition 30 crew aboard the NASA ISS flew over the gulf city. The largest metropolitan area in the emirate of the same name has peculiar man-made islands located by the coast, which are best seen in birds-eye view, perfect for astronauts. There are a variety of patterns within the city, the highways and high streets are paved with yellow-orange lighting, while the commercial areas are speckled with white, blue and yellow.

Despite being largest desert in the world, the Sahara is not only an arid hotbed. It is home to non-typical settings such as the wet woodland, the Sahel. Known for its dark vegetation, Lake Chad boasts many marshes, which can be seen at the forefront of the NASA image. Although the current lake that stands is more than 120 miles long, at one point it would have spread across a larger proportion of the photo, up to 600 miles.

Astronauts glided far over the Parana, South America’s second longest river after the Amazon. The image is split into a variety of contrasting colors, each telling a different story. The green swamps of the Parana can be seen on the left, against the brown muddy water that pours into the River Plate. This is a wide estuary separating Argentina from its little neighbor, Uruguay (top right). The gray enclave in the center of the image is the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires.

Another great example of how night lights can enhance a birds-eye experience can be found in Egypt. So many Egyptian citizens live close to the Nile, the largest river in Africa. So the city lights that illuminate all the way along either side is an incredible sight for astronauts. Other metropolitan areas in and around the Mediterranean can be seen, including Tel Aviv in Israel and Amman in Jordan (on the right) as well as Cyprus, near the top of the image.

This stunning tapestry of color is a series of lagoons and islands, spotted by the International Space Station as part of the Australian coastline. The white quadrilateral shapes which form salt extraction facilities, sharply contrast the chaotic surroundings of a variety of red shades. These round islands can be typically found throughout the Indian Ocean coastline of Western Australia. Known for its remoteness and its tropical climate, the coast of Australia has experienced many cyclones, with nearby towns being threatened to evacuate.

If you look closely on the horizon in the photo, there is a blueish, white light beneath the atmosphere. This is the light of an active thunderstorm and above it lies a red sprite: a major electrical discharge, but more like fluorescent tubes as opposed to lightning. When astronauts flew over northwest Mexico, they turned east and took this photo of the red sprite above a thunderstorm. The sprite was looming high over Missouri and shot up through the green layer, near the moon.

This grid-patterned landscape of aquaculture centers is situated on the coast of Liaoning, a province in northeast China. The dark-toned fish farms are nearly 4 miles long and have been built along a large part of the coastline. This particular group facing the Yellow Sea is the largest one and the sixth one to have been produced. We are sure it was unintentional, but we think the layout of the landscape from a birds-eye view looks a lot like a side-portrait.

In this photo looking over Pakistan’s Indus River Valley, you can see one of the only places on the planet where an international boundary can be seen at night time. Bright orange security lights cover the entire border between India and Pakistan. An astronaut took this panorama, showing not just the winding boundary, but the bright port city of Karachi in the bottom left. The distance from Karachi to the Himalayas, which is at the top of the image, is 720 miles.

NASA’s Expedition 50 crew were orbiting over Sicily one night, and what they saw was remarkable. The island just off the coast of southern Italy is home to Europe’s most active volcano, Mount Etna. It was on this night when the crew had the chance to observe from space a full scale eruption. This can be seen where the small red lines are on the right, surrounded by black. Thomas Pesquet took the photo and proudly shared it to social media.

From afar, the bright Laguna Colorada stands out like a sore thumb within the Bolivian Andes. The peculiar looking lake rests at a high altitude and is 14,100 feet above sea level, providing a clear canvas for astronauts to snap away. This shallow lake over 6 miles long gets its strong reddish-brown color from algae who live in the salty waters. There are times when the lake’s color turns to green, depending on the level of salinity and the water temperature.

The small Adele Island, off Australia’s north coast is very shallow, with its highest point only 12 feet above sea level. The treeless island in the photo is the dark part located in the middle of the sand. There is a solar-powered lighthouse at the north tip of the island, but is extremely difficult to pick out. The island is currently recognized as an Important Bird Area, as it is a prime breeding location for Lesser Frigatebirds, as well as three other rare species.

Amazingly, astronauts on the ISS got the chance to look down on the Olympic flame they had originally carried outside their orbiting home, only three months later. As you can see, the intensely bright light inside the radiant circle is none other than the Olympic flame sitting inside the Medals Plaza, in the center of the Olympic Park. Then next to the torch is the oval-shaped Fisht Olympic Stadium, standing out in its light blue motif.

What could be mistaken for an abstract piece of art is actually a photo of Lake Nasser, an artificial lake. Former Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser was responsible for the lake’s creation and is who the lake was named after. This stunning daytime photo highlights the lake’s cracking, almost branch-like streams. The Sun’s light reflects off the water to perfect effect, providing a luminous quality that contrasts beautifully against the dull brown colors of the arid land.

The Perito Moreno Glacier graciously descends from the Patagonian Icefield (at the top) into the warmer Largo Argentino. It should be noted, that this image is rotated, meaning that the north is to the right. The photo clearly shows how the glacier’s ice tongue provides a natural dam. This separates the Brazo Rico, the greenish section towards the bottom left from the Lago Argentino, the turquoise lake to the right. The ice dam also prevents lake water from crossing into the muddier Brazo Rico.

This image was taken in 2009 and is of one of the few remaining British Overseas Territories, Bermuda. Located in the western Atlantic off the east coast of North America, Bermuda is a popular tourist destination and one of the most expensive places in the world to live. NASA used ASTER, or Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer, to monitor the surface of Bermuda and its surroundings. The different shades of blue suggest different temperatures in the surrounding waters.

Here can be seen many peaks of the Santa Marta’s massif in Colombia, the Sierra Nevada. It’s summit, named in honor of Christopher Columbus, is 18,700 feet tall. Despite only being ten degrees north of the Equator, the peak has a small, fixed snow cap. The peaks are situated so high that trees simply can not grow there. Also, their landscapes appear to be gray because little vegetation can persevere in such extreme conditions.

The sharp dichotomy between the shiny surface of the Philippine Sea, the blue atmosphere and the sheer blackness of space is simply beautiful in this photo. In the top right, you can see a wide layer of clouds which are covering the northern Philippine islands. And in the bottom right of the image,  there are two thunderclouds rising alongside one another. Their long tails, known as anvils, are formed by thunderstorms and sink for miles below.

Sadly, the medieval city of Venice is slowly sinking. But astronauts are making the most of it while it’s still here, taking fantastic photos like this one. There is also the beautiful lagoon that surrounds the city, while the narrow island of Lido acts as a barrier, protecting Venice from the Adriatic Sea’s storm waves. As you can see, the city of Venice can be identified by the red roof tiles that cover the entire island, while the sister city of Mestre is gray.

Stretching more than 1,200 miles along nearly the entire coast of Queensland, the Great Barrier Reef is considered one of the natural wonders of the world and one of the most popular destinations in the world. It’s no surprise when you see the stunning composition of colors in this ETM+ sensor image. It shows a southern section of the reef system and to the right you can see hundreds of islands, many of them with their own holiday resorts.

Over the last few decades, Iran’s salty Lake Urmia has shrunk considerably over the last few decades. And the smaller the Lake gets, the saltier it gets. This change in salinity attracts microscopic organisms are oddly changing the color of the lake. In 2016, NASA’s Aqua satellite captured a shift in color from April to July. As you can see, the lake was green in April, but by the time the July came around, the lake had turned a peculiar reddish color.

NASA used a long lens to capture the Namib sand sea dunes, regarded as one of the most stunning features of natural beauty in the world. Strong winds from the south make hypnotic patterns that align perfectly. But the pattern is disrupted close to the Tsondab valley, which diverts the winds into different directions. The Khoisan name Tsondab literally translates to “that which running is suddenly stopped,” which could be alluding to the winds in these parts.

The photo taken on a Landsat 8 shows part of Canada’s Mackenzie River, as well as the 3000-strong town of Inuvik. The river is 2,600 miles long, from Columbia Icefield in the Canadian Rockies all the way to the Arctic. A 120 mile long frozen highway runs between Inuvik and other remote outpost Tuktoyaktuk. As you can tell, many streams are white, covered in snow and ice, interspersed between green land. Mackenzie River is Canada’s largest water basin and the tenth largest in the world.

In 1650 B.C., one of the largest volcanic eruptions in the last 10,000 years took place, and is considered to be the potential source of the myth of Atlantis. And in recent times, NASA’s Terra spacecraft took this photo of the historic volcano, an archipelago in the Aegean Sea. The large island is Thera, while its smaller neighbor is Therasia. Then there is the Kameni Islands (in the center), formed by volcanic eruptions over time. The most recent eruption happened in 1950.

A space shuttle took this stunning image of Aurora Australis, with its payload bay and tail appearing on the left side of the photo. Auroras occur when high-energy electrons collide with atoms after falling from the Earth’s magnetosphere. The end result is this: a beautiful combination of red and green color, flaring over the Earth’s atmosphere. When solar activity reaches its peak, more geomagnetic storms occur, meaning a much greater chance of auroral activity for astronauts to see whilst in orbit.

This beautiful shot was taken just before midnight, with a full moon helping to provide the green aurora skimming over the horizon. In contrast, the dark Baltic Sea can just about be seen in the bottom right of the image, while clouds and snow loom over Norway under a full moon. The city lights indicate some of the major cities in Scandinavian countries such as Denmark and Sweden. They also illuminate the Skagerrak and Kattegat coastlines, leading into the Baltic Sea.

An astronaut captured a fiery sunset over the South Atlantic. The stark contrast of light and dark show many layers of atmosphere above the Earth’s already dark surface. The setting sun can also be seen amongst the clouds, altogether providing a stunning image anyone would be proud of taking, let alone an astronaut. On average, space crews see sixteen sunrises and sixteen sunsets every day. But seeing moments of beauty like this one can never grow old.

One of the driest places on Earth, a large part of Chile’s Atacama Desert has been without moisture for as long as recorded memory. Part of the conditions means that a salt flat exists called Salar de Atacama. This false-color image was taken by a Landsat 7 satellite and the varying colors suggests different things about the landscape. For example, the red depicts vegetation, while the color brown highlights soil. Also, the white around the salt flat shows clay and carbonate-rich material.

ISS crew member Sergey Ryzhikov took this photo of Oroville Lake (in the top half) and its dam of the same name (in the middle of the photo). Following high amounts of rainfall in recent times, water has been continuously released from the main passage for surplus water. This is in order to decrease reservoir levels. However, the spillway was damaged, and the situation was confirmed to be an emergency. Local authorities alerted over 100,000 people to evacuate the area and move downstream until further notice.

In the southern Atlantic Ocean lies the South Georgia Island and the South Sandwich Islands. Frequent cloud cover prevents clear satellite images from space. However, when the clouds do parts ways, a Landsat 8 lens can capture incredible images of the glaciers in retreat on South Georgia Island. In the photo, the Neumayer Glacier can be seen, having retreated more than 2.5 miles. Like the island’s other glaciers, Neumayer is a tidewater glacier, which flows into the ocean.

NASA’s EO1 satellite captured the glaciers and peaks of Chile’s Torres del Paine National Park. Only a part of the park is covered in this photo, including the Gray Glacier and the mountain range of Cordillera del Paine. Many of the glaciers end in the park lakes, which are connected by some of the thin rivers. The three peaks in the middle of the photo are the site which the park gets its name from, Torres del Paine (Towers of Paine).

About 3,800 years ago, a huge eruption from Mount Vesuvius buried many people and villages up to 15 miles northwest of the volcano. The historic city of Pompeii was buried in up to 100ft of ash and along with Herculaneum, was rediscovered and excavated in the 20th century. Nowadays, the volcano sits southeast of  the modern city, Naples, which is home to over 3 million people. To the right of the image, you can see part of the Italian Appenines, specifically Appenino Napoletano.

The largest river in Southeast Asia, the Mekong is essentially a channel of floodwater that came from a huge monsoon. The heavy rainfall affected people in various countries including North Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and India. ISS crews have taken many photos of the floods, including this one. It shows thousands of acres worth of damage beyond the river itself. Water on farmland has washed up from the hills as well as from the river’s muddy waters.

Jimmie Luecke literally put his name on the map when he left highway patrol to pursue a career in oil drilling. After becoming a millionaire from the Austin chalk oil boom, he bought land just outside Smithville, Texas. One day, while clearing land on his ranch, he decided to make the biggest signature in human history. Luecke’s “handwriting” has been commended by International Space Stations at NASA, having his 2.5 mile long name used to evaluate spatial resolution of astronaut photographs.

Astronauts used an extremely long lens to capture the northern tip of Cape Cod in all its glory. With water on both sides, the 65-mile long cape was originally formed by the two large pieces of ice that moved into the area from Canada. The two pieces of ice continue to lay either side of Cape Cod. As you can see in the center of the cape, there are many ponds that remain as a result of the receding glacier.

The radiant Tunisian port city of Sfax is a stunning birds-eye view and truly is a sight for any sore eye. Some of the key ways that astronauts can tell they are flying over the fishing town include the spectacularly colorful salt ponds that you can see towards the bottom of the photo. Also, just north of the old city is where the large golden circles act as a stage for the Taparura redevelopment project.

Near the south of Nevada lies the “the entertainment capital of the world” – Las Vegas. The city is most famous for its many casinos and five star hotels, but it’s the copious amount of lights that millions of visitors swarm towards every year. Because of the high concentration of lights, the Vegas Strip is regarded as one of the brightest places on Earth. But this is contrasted by darker locations such as the tarmac on McCarran International Airport.

This photo of the the Himalayans was taken from the International Space Station near the Chinese-Indian border. At the bottom of the photo, you can see one of the main ranges of the Himalayas, where strong shadows are casted alongside the snow. The range includes some of the tallest mountains in the world, including Mount Everest. Although the rivers in the image go north from the mountains, they ultimately return through the Himalayas as the Sutlej River, which does not appear in the image.

As you can see, the gases from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano go far up into the top half of the image. What can be seen is “a form of air pollution that results when sulfur dioxide and other gases… emitted by an erupting volcano react with oxygen and moisture in the presence of sunlight…” This term is know by Hawaiians as “vog,” a mix of fog, smog and volcano. Astronauts are able to capture vog effectively by taking oblique shots in order to improve visibility.

This particular photo was taken with the most powerful lens currently available to astronauts. The image is of Mount Fuji, Japan’s most famous volcano. It features the summit crater in its center (12,389 ft) and the Hoei Crater, just south of it. Fuji is one of Japan’s national symbols and the volcano attracts millions of visitors every year. Also, many Shinto pilgrims climb the mountain as an expression of devotion. In this photo, the mid-afternoon sun perfectly encapsulates the cone shape of the volcano.