If you were living on a space station, it can be argued that you would have the best view of planet Earth. Waking up to a revolving visual smorgasbord of some of the most awe-inspiring events down below.
The folks at NASA have been documenting such events and famous landmarks by photographing them for years now – and occasionally they release them to the public here on Earth.
These recent images are arguably some of their best yet. From Princess Charlotte Bay, in Australia, to the surprising beauty of Reno, Nevada’s city lights set against the mountains that surround it.
Buckle up and enjoy the view.
Well done (and thank you) NASA.
Scary but Beautiful: Supertyphoon Haiyan the day before it made landfall in the Philippines. The coast of the Philippines can be seen outlined on the far left of the image. Captured Nov 7 by NASA’s Aqua satellite
Let there be light.. in a small city: This image of Reno, Nevada at night was captured Jan 28 by an astronaut on the International Space Station
Oh wow: The Torres del Paine National Park, in Chilean Patagonia, as captured Jan. 21 by NASA¿s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite
The great frozen land: Alaska is almost always mostly, or at least partially, covered with clouds, but this rare, cloudless moment was captured June 17 by NASA’s Terra satellite.
The world’s most gorgeous great lake: A cluster of small images in the far northern reaches of Lake Michigan in a photo captured May 24 by the NASA/USGS Landsat 8 satellite.
Running left to right through the center of this image is the scar from the EF-5 tornado that ran through Moore, Oklahoma on May 20, 2013 killing at least 24, injuring 377 and likely topping $2 billion in damages. Captured June 2 by NASA’s Terra satellite
This image of Princess Charlotte Bay in Australia was captured April 20 by the NASA/USGS satellite Landsat 8
Nature’s Art Canvas: Isla Socorro creates von Karman vortices in the clouds above the Pacific ocean May 22 in this image captured by NASA¿s Aqua satellite
Pavlof volcano in the Aleutian arc erupts May 18 in this image captured by astronauts on the International Space Station
The Landsat 8 satellite, launched by NASA and operated by the USGS, spotted new deforestation (brown rectangles center right) in the Peruvian Amazon on Aug. 28 after American scientists received a tip from colleagues in South America
This image of clouds off the California coast was captured Apr. 14 by NASA’s Terra satellite.
This image sand dunes in Australia’s Great Sandy Desert was taken March 25 by an astronaut on the International Space Station
Super Cool: An astronaut on the International Space Station took this photo on Jan. 10 of an eruption on Sakurajima, one of Japan’s most active volcanoes