NASA astronaut Jessica Meir has captured a spectacular image of London, U.K., at night from the International Space Station—which orbits the Earth at an altitude of around 250 miles.
The photo reveals the intricate patchwork of roads and thoroughfares which connect the various areas of the city. In the middle, the black outline of the River Thames—which splits London in half—can also be seen.
"Behold the bright lights of fair #London town! Views of city lights from above evoke images of spider webs, shattered glass, or fractal art. Many fond memories with my relatives and friends in this lovely city—thinking of you all from low Earth orbit." Meir tweeted.
Meir frequently uses her Twitter account to post fascinating images snapped from the ISS during her time on board, as part of the Expedition 61 crew. One post from November 20, for example, shows two striking images of the moon—one on its own and another in context with the Earth.
"Morning views on @Space_Station. Although we're only [about] 250 miles closer to the Moon than you are, we can see it more clearly since it's not obscured by the Earth's atmosphere. We at @NASA are celebrating the #Apollo50th anniversaries & looking forward to our return there!" she tweeted.
And on November 18, she posted a breathtaking set of images showing dazzling cloud formations as seen from above.
"Turns out clouds are equally as captivating when seen from above as they are when gazing up from below. Take a moment today to cherish the natural beauty of our magnificent planet Earth," she tweeted.
Meir made history last month—alongside her Expedition 61 colleague Christina Koch—when the pair conducted the first all-female spacewalk. The purpose of the spacewalk, which took place on October 18, was to replace a battery charger.
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The battery charge/discharge unit, or BCDU for short, had failed to activate after astronauts installed new batteries on the ISS on October 11. The BCDU regulates the amount of charge that the station's batteries receive from the spacecraft's solar panels during periods when it passes through the nighttime side of the Earth in its orbit.
The ISS has several functioning charging units which can carry the load for the failed BCDU, however, NASA officials decided to fix the problem promptly.
An image of London taken from the ISS. An image of London taken from the ISS. Jessica Meir/NASAMeir and Koch's spacewalk was the 221st to be conducted from the ISS for the purposes of assembly, maintenance or upgrades.
The ISS is jointly operated by NASA and the Russian, European, Japanese and Canadian space agencies. It has been occupied for more than 19 years—the longest continuous human presence in space.
