SPACED OUT
Stunning Earth ‘timelapse’ from space reveals huge field of thunderstorms, giant wildfires and bright city lights
NASA astronaut Christina Koch made history for completing the first all-female space walk alongside Jessica Meir on Friday and she's also well known for her amazing snaps of space.
One of her most impressive is this 11 minute time-lapse of our planet that consists of 400 photos combined into one single image.
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Koch took the time-lapse image of Earth and stars when the International Space Station (ISS) travelled across Namibia in southwest Africa.
She captured 400 photos during an 11 minute period, creating an amazing long-exposure "time lapse" of the Earth.
The circle pattern of lights in the sky is star trails but the lights on the ground have lots of different sources.
Cities appear as pale yellow and white dotted streaks and each dot represents another frame in the time-lapse.
However, some of the thinner lines that appear more orange are actually the glow of giant fires from Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The other glowing blobs on the image were created by lightning flashes over Africa.
They stretch as far as the eye can see and curve around the Earth.
Eagle-eyed observers would have also spotted a greenish arc that traces Earth's atmosphere.
That's called airglow and it stretches 50 to 400 miles into the atmosphere.
Koch has been living on the ISS for around eight months.
She regularly posts about her adventures on Twitter and Instagram.
What is the ISS?
Here's what you need to know about the International Space Station...
- The International Space Station, often abbreviated to ISS, is a large space craft that orbits Earth and houses astronauts who go up there to complete scientific missions
- Many countries worked together to build it and they work together to use it
- It is made up of many pieces, which astronauts had to send up individually on rockets and put together from 1998 to 2000
- Ever since the year 2000, people have lived on the ISS
- Nasa uses the ISS to learn about living and working in space
- It is approximately 250 miles above Earth and orbits around the planet just like a satellite
- Living inside the ISS is said to be like living inside a big house with five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a gym, lots of science labs and a big bay window for viewing Earth
Nasa testing ‘inflatable space lodges’ that will house astronauts on trips to the Moon or Mars
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In other space news, trillions of tiny alien ‘robot probes’ may be flying in space but are too small for Nasa to spot, shock paper claims.
Nasa is testing ‘inflatable space lodges’ that will house astronauts on trips to the Moon or Mars.
And, Virgin Galactic has revealed its first spacesuits for private astronauts, ahead of £200,000-a-ticket flights to space next year.
What do you think of the Earth 'timelapse' shot? Let us know in the comments...
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