The astronauts from International Space Station take and send back photos of Earth almost daily thanks to powerful digital cameras. The ISS has spent 17 years in space having travelled over 2.6 billion miles around the planet and has circled it more than 100,000 times since. Let's take a look at this eye-pleasing view.
The current expedition of astronauts on board the International Space Station has seen some extraordinary images beamed back from orbit. These include this picture of an aurora lighting up the atmosphere of Earth as the ISS passes overhead
This picture of New York shows the huge urban sprawl that dominates this part of the east coast of the US. The five boroughs of Manhattan, Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island are all in view
A lightning flash illuminates the a storm on the Earth while the Milky Way illuminates the sky above in this stunning picture
The chaotic encroachment of sand dunes from the desert in central Algeria onto the surrounding landscape are among the images captured by the astronauts that can prove invaluable to scientists studying the environmental changes taking place on Earth
Nasa astronaut on the ISS captured this oblique view of the towering snow-caped peaks of the Himalaya Mountains last month
This astonishing picture shows a a dramatic thunderstorm as lightning discharges in the clouds on 17 May above Arkansas
Astronaut Scott Kelly, who returned to Earth in March after spending a year in orbit, captured this stunning sunrise on the 1 March as he prepared to depart the space station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft
British astronaut Tim Peake has selected two of his own pictures taken during his past five months on board the International Space Station that he would enter into the International Astronomy Photographer of the Year. His picture of a sunset above is one
Another of Major Peake's images he picked out for the competition shows the stars of the Milky Way glistening through the thin atmosphere of Earth while the ISS soars above the planet (pictured)
While in orbit, one of the astronauts jobs on the current expedition has been to launch tiny satellites known as CubeSats from the space station
The sun glinting off the central Pacific Ocean between low clouds
The astronauts do not just spend their time looking down at the Earth, as this picture of the Moon captured by Tim Peake shows
More than three million images have been taken on board the ISS. This portrait of the current crew, Expedition 47, taken on 12 May, is the 3 millionth image. It shows ESA astronaut Timothy Peake, NASA astronaut Timothy Kopra and Roscosmos cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko (left to right front row), Russian cosmonauts Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin along with NASA astronaut Jeff Williams in the back row
Nasa astronaut and space station commander Tim Kopra captured this nightscape of Chicago , which shows the city's distinctive grid shaped layout of its streets
Not all of the pictures taken on board the ISS are out of the window. This picture taken by Tim Kopra shows his breakfast taco of shredded port, cheese, eggs, salsa and refried beans floating inside the Unity module
Depending on the angle of the sunlight, the astronauts can see some dramatic cloud formations, like this cumulonimbus cloud captured by Major Peake on 3 April
This picture shows the last finger of sea ice on the Bering Sea melting along the Russian coastline
A romantic holiday destination for many, this image captured by Jeff Williams shows how Venice in Italy runs the risk of being consumed by the rising tides of the Adriatic Sea
This image is a composite together at the Johnson space Centre in Houston using photographs taken by crew members on the ISS. It shows Mount Brandberg Nature Reserve in Namibia, Africa
Tim Peake captured this rare, high-altitude noctilucent, or night-shining, clouds that form between 47 and 53 miles above the Earth's surface near the boundary of the mesosphere and the thermosphere
British astronaut Tim Peake has built a reputation for capturing some stunning night time photography, like this one as he passed over Italy, the Mediterranean and the Alps
This image may look more like an abstract painting but actually shows the enormous dunes on the outskirts of the Namib Desert in southeset Africa. As one of the oldest deserts in the world, it covers large swathes of Namibia, Angola and South Africa
Before Scott Kelly left the space station, ESA astronaut Tim Peake got some tips off him on how to capture the stunning lights of the aurora as the solar wind smashes into the Earth's atmosphere. The picture above is one of his first attempts
One of Tim Peake's most recent pictures shows the Manicouagan impact crater in Canada (pictured), a ring shaped structure left by an asteroid strike around 210 million years ago
This picture shows the geometric design etched into the desert of central Saudi Arabia by agricultural irrigation
This striking photograph of South Africa was taken using a special camera mounted on the outside of the space station
Tim Peake captured the jade coloured water flowing off a Patagonian ice field. This glacial river eventually flows into the Lago Argentina
Jeff Willimas captured this colourful picture of the coastline of northwest Australian, revealing its unique terrain
Some of the pictures reveal that it is not just Earth's landscapes that can appear stunning from orbit. In this case it is life - a swirling bloom of plankton off the coast of Patagonia, that has produced this striking image
While the astronauts do not currently launch from the Kennedy Space Centre since the end of the shuttle programme, they still have soft spot for it in their heart. This image by Scott Kelly shows the Kennedy Space Centre from orbit
In this picture, dramatic cloud formations and the sun reflecting off the ocean below gives the clouds the appearance of islands in the sky
This picture captured by Tim Kopra shows San Francisco with the Golden Gate Bridge on the left
The towering mountains of Patagonia peak out from a sea of cloud cover in the picture above taken on 18 May
This enormous ice field in southern Patagonia runs into Lake Viedma. This is located at the Southern Patagonic Andes between Argentina and Chile. The picture was taken by Tim Peake
This strange shaped piece of land jutting out into the ocean is how Cape Cod in Massachusetts looks from 241 miles above the Earth
A large extinct volcano in the southwest African Brukkaros Mountains in Namibia is pictured above. It measures 1,590 metres at its peak
Looking more like fireflies, these green specks are atually the lights of fishing boats scattered across the Gulf of Thailand
Looking down on the northern coast of Mallorca, in the Mediterranean Sea
This picture by Tim Kopra of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada, shows the wakes of boats and other vessels left in English Bay
Tim Peake took this photograph from the window of the ISS showing the Soyuz space capsule in front of the island of Madagascar
Tim Kopra took this photograph showing how water has etched patterns into the sands of western Mexico
This picture shows the impact that mankind is having on the landscape, with the vast holes created by mining operations near Green Valley in Arizona gaping
Aurora Australis captured on April 17. This is the southern counterpart of the Aurora Borealis and can include rarer red and blue lights
Pictured is an unknown Brazilian lake taken by Tim Kopra, who is serving as commander of the ISS
Expedition 47 flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko from Roscosmos is photographed in the International Space Station's Cupola module preparing to take Earth pictures using a 400 mm lens. The Cupola's 360 degree viewing platform provides optimal views of the Earth below and also contains the control mechanisms for the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm
Moon horizon above Korea is seen in this stunning image. Atmospheric distortion are behind the ripples in this image
March 31, Progress 63P flying over a city in western Asia. Esa astronaut Tim Peake spotted the spacecraft exit our atmosphere and enter Earth orbit, leaving a characteristic contrail
Movie night on the ISS. This image was taken by British astronaut, Tim Peak, who is nearing the end of his 6-month stint on the space station
CubeSats fly free after leaving the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer on the International Space Station. Seen here are two LEMUR-2 satellites
Soyuz 46S arriving at the International Space Station Saturday 20 March 2016
Astronaut Tim Peake practicing a Cygnus capture ahead of Orbital launch and rendezvous in this image
This image looks down, southwesterly, on Lake Erie, with Cleveland left of center. It was taken May this year, by crew on Expedition 47
• Don't insult other visitors. Offensive comments will be deleted without warning.
• Comments are accepted in English only.
• No swearing words in comments, otherwise such comments will be censored.
• Your nickname and avatar are randomly selected. If you don't post comments for 7 days, they both are reset.
• To choose another avatar, click the ‘Random avatar’ link.
