British astronaut Tim Peake spent 186 days on the International Space Station, from December 15, 2015 to June 16, 2016. A novice photographer at the start, Peake experimented with different techniques and lenses, eventually becoming a pro at capturing earth images from space. The space station orbits the earth 16 times in 24 hours, affording a view of more than 1,000 kilometers on earth in every direction at any given time. Below are a selection of some of the best photos he captured, part of his book Hello, Is This Planet Earth?
Stunning Photos of Earth from the International Space Station
Astronaut Tim Peake captures images of volcanoes, cities, glaciers and aurora from 249 miles up
Stunning Photos of Earth from the International Space Station
- We have phases of "short nights" on the Internatonal Space Station ─ sunlight is nearly always visible right now. Taken looking northeast from over Tunisia, this pic shows Corsica and Sardinia left, the Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy and Sicily at right. Look closely and you can spot the dark mounds of Mount Vesuvius next to Naples and Mount Etna next to Catania, Sicily. European Space Agency
- Spotted a volcano smoking away on Russia's far east coast this morning ─ heat has melted snow around the top. These particular volcanoes are on the Kamchatka peninsula. The smoking one is Klyuchevskaya Sopka, the highest mountain on Kamchatka and the highest active volcano of Eurasia. European Space Agency
- One of the world's oldest cities ─ Athens. The city of Athens is the center of this image, marked by the roads and the densely populated cluster of buildings. Ancient buildings such as the Parthenon cannot be seen with the naked eye from space, but the arid landscape was still evocative to me of the ancients. European Space Agency