Astronaut Photography

Lighting the Night in Southern Africa
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Lighting the Night in Southern Africa

An astronaut’s sweeping nighttime photograph of Namibia and South Africa reveals the region’s lighted communities, many of which are centered around mining.

Published Dec 8, 2024

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Western Australia’s Capital City
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Western Australia’s Capital City

Perth, the only city along the country’s western coastline with more than 1 million people, displays widespread urban infrastructure alongside the Swan and Canning rivers.

Published Dec 1, 2024

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Windy City of Lights
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Windy City of Lights

Orange, yellow, and white lights span Chicago at night, illuminating its gridded downtown and tracing its sinuous rivers and parks.

Published Nov 24, 2024

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Tajikistan’s Fedchenko Glacier
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Tajikistan’s Fedchenko Glacier

The exceptionally long high-mountain glacier in Central Asia ranges from snowy white near the mountain peaks to dusty brown at lower elevations.

Published Nov 17, 2024

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Sandy Sculptures in Morocco’s Erg Chebbi
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Sandy Sculptures in Morocco’s Erg Chebbi

Windswept sand formations known as star dunes, or pyramid dunes, are a distinctive feature of the Sahara Desert in northern Africa.

Published Nov 10, 2024

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Crepuscular Rays and Cumulonimbus Clouds
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Crepuscular Rays and Cumulonimbus Clouds

Photographed from orbit at sunset, the rays of light penetrating gaps in the clouds span vast distances.

Published Nov 3, 2024

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Exploring Russia’s Krenitsyna Volcano
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Exploring Russia’s Krenitsyna Volcano

The volcano’s central peak, an island within an island, stands above a reflective, water-filled caldera.

Published Oct 27, 2024

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Madagascar’s Betsiboka River Delta
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Madagascar’s Betsiboka River Delta

The growing network of channels and islands now spans more than half of the estuary that was once open to ships.

Published Oct 20, 2024

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Meanders of the Irrawaddy River
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Meanders of the Irrawaddy River

River channels old and new wind across a floodplain in Burma (Myanmar), mingling with areas of agriculture and aquaculture.

Published Oct 13, 2024

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Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS Arrives from Afar
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Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS Arrives from Afar

A “dirty snowball” from the distant icy cloud encircling our solar system passed by the Sun and Earth in autumn 2024.

Published Oct 12, 2024

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Sprites, Camera, Action!
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Sprites, Camera, Action!

An astronaut photographed the atmospheric phenomenon, associated with lightning, during a stormy night over North America.

Published Oct 6, 2024

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Bends of the Alabama River
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Bends of the Alabama River

Reflected sunlight highlights the water’s surface and flooded zones near Gee’s Bend.

Published Sep 30, 2024

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Santiago at Night
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Santiago at Night

Lights in Chile’s central city display an array of colors and densities, reflecting various land uses and differences between the region’s communes.

Published Sep 22, 2024

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Bustling Beijing
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Bustling Beijing

China’s capital city boasts a diversity of structures, from its historic city center to the concentric roads and high-speed railway that surround it.

Published Sep 9, 2024

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Mexicali, Baja California
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Mexicali, Baja California

Urban and agricultural landscapes abut the U.S.–Mexico border in this part of the Sonoran Desert.

Published Aug 25, 2024

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North Dakota in Winter
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North Dakota in Winter

Mid-morning sunlight illuminated snow-covered farmland and cliffs along the Des Lacs River valley.

Published Aug 18, 2024

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Colorful São Francisco
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Colorful São Francisco

Bold hues paint the landscape around this Brazilian river.

Published Aug 4, 2024

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Lake Baikal at Night
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Lake Baikal at Night

From reflective snow and ice to the glowing towns along the Trans-Siberian Railway, nighttime near the world’s largest freshwater lake displays plenty of light.

Published Jul 28, 2024

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Earth’s Reflections on the Moon
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Earth’s Reflections on the Moon

Fifty-five years after our giant leap, scientists continue to learn about both the Moon and Earth from our celestial neighbor.

Published Jul 20, 2024

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Lightning Storm over Türkiye
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Lightning Storm over Türkiye

Flashes of light illuminated the textures of cloud tops during a nighttime storm over the region.

Published Jul 21, 2024

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Carving Canyons
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Carving Canyons

Erosion, tectonic uplift, and a human-built dam have all helped shape the Upper Lake Powell area in Utah.

Published Jul 14, 2024

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A Wide View of Tasmanian Terrain
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A Wide View of Tasmanian Terrain

The island is Australia's smallest state, but its mainland fills the frame of this astronaut photograph.

Published Jul 8, 2024

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A River Runs Through Fayzabad
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A River Runs Through Fayzabad

Flanked by mountains, the capital of the Badakhshan Province in Afghanistan lies along a sharp bend in a valley sculpted by the Kokcha River.

Published Jun 30, 2024

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Capes and Bays of the Makran Coast
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Capes and Bays of the Makran Coast

Uplift, erosion, and sea level rise all shape this part of Iran’s shoreline.

Published Jun 23, 2024

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South Keeling Atoll
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South Keeling Atoll

This U-shaped series of islets in the Indian Ocean rings a blue-green lagoon of varying depth.

Published Jun 16, 2024

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Kamchatka at Night
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Kamchatka at Night

Moonlit mountains and illuminated towns highlight geographic features on this sparsely populated Russian peninsula.

Published Jun 9, 2024

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Dunes and Desert Replace the Aral Sea
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Dunes and Desert Replace the Aral Sea

A former island and a desert are among the newcomers to the dry landscape following the lake’s rapid decline.

Published Jun 2, 2024

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Long Shadows of Mongolian Mountains
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Long Shadows of Mongolian Mountains

In central Asia, jagged mountain peaks rise high above the steppe.

Published May 26, 2024

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Farming on Fertile Land in France
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Farming on Fertile Land in France

Farmers grow a variety of crops along river floodplains near Lyon.

Published May 19, 2024

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Sundown and Lights Up Over the U.S. Northeast
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Sundown and Lights Up Over the U.S. Northeast

As sunlight waned, the glow of artificial light revealed patterns of urbanization along the populous corridor.

Published May 12, 2024

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