Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

Check out these amazing views of Earth shot from the space station

Trevor Mogg
By

Soichi Noguchi has emerged as the resident photographer of the International Space Station’s current Expedition 64 crew.

The 55-year-old Japanese astronaut reached the orbiting outpost last month, together with three American astronauts, aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule on its first operational flight.

Since arriving, Noguchi has been tweeting some amazing photos as the ISS orbits the planet every 90 minutes or so, from around 250 miles up. The images were likely taken from the space station’s seven-window Cupola observatory, which offers incredible views of Earth, the moon, and beyond.

Related

So let’s take a look at some of the best ones to date …

This remarkable image shows Houston, Texas, as well as Trinity Bay and Galveston Bay, and Beaumont off to the east.

Howdy, #Houstonian! #houstontx
宇宙飛行士のホームタウン、#ヒューストン です。意外に緑が多い？ pic.twitter.com/hkhXW9JXPG

— NOGUCHI, Soichi 野口　聡－（のぐち　そういち） (@Astro_Soichi) December 10, 2020

An enviable view of Spain’s Balearic Islands …

#Ibiza #Spain's Balearic Islands in the #Mediterranean Sea. pic.twitter.com/ZwXzKFtzY0

— NOGUCHI, Soichi 野口　聡－（のぐち　そういち） (@Astro_Soichi) December 14, 2020

Noguchi describes this eye-catching image of Mauritania in Africa as “almost like an oil painting.”

Almost like an oil painting… #Africa is beautiful. #Mauritania and #WesternSahara pic.twitter.com/JpD6dtPacV

— NOGUCHI, Soichi 野口　聡－（のぐち　そういち） (@Astro_Soichi) December 13, 2020

A striking photo of Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri (not Illinois, Soichi!) …

I found #Dragon! Lake Ozarks in #Illinois , near hometown of @Astro_illini
ドラゴン発見⁉️イリノイ州のオザークス湖です。今聞いたら、ホプキンス船長の生まれ故郷の近くらしい。 pic.twitter.com/wbfUY4kLC4

— NOGUCHI, Soichi 野口　聡－（のぐち　そういち） (@Astro_Soichi) December 5, 2020

With its quirky man-made islands in the Persian Gulf, here’s no mistaking Dubai from 250 miles up …

Palms, and the World. #Dubai
Happy belated anniversary #UAENationalDay
宇宙飛行士みんな大好き、ドバイの人工島群 pic.twitter.com/wNabENmWf4

— NOGUCHI, Soichi 野口　聡－（のぐち　そういち） (@Astro_Soichi) December 8, 2020

If you follow an imaginary diagonal line from the top right corner of this photo, you’ll see a bright white dot about a quarter of the way down. It’s the Sydney Opera House …

Sydney, #Australia. Yes, I can see the famous opera
house! pic.twitter.com/6sD5CXZ5d7

— NOGUCHI, Soichi 野口　聡－（のぐち　そういち） (@Astro_Soichi) December 9, 2020

Noguchi’s fabulous night shot of his home country’s capital city …

Good night, #TOKYO! pic.twitter.com/laSbi0FbSW

— NOGUCHI, Soichi 野口　聡－（のぐち　そういち） (@Astro_Soichi) December 6, 2020

Here we see the Texas location of SpaceX’s recent test flight of its prototype Starship rocket, which ended in a spectacular fireball.

Boca Chica, #TX. Probably the closest place to #moon and beyond. Go, #SpaceX !!! pic.twitter.com/jgyeuqYJCG

— NOGUCHI, Soichi 野口　聡－（のぐち　そういち） (@Astro_Soichi) December 10, 2020

An awesome view of Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia …

#Riyadh, #SaudiArabia magical city in the middle of beautiful desert. pic.twitter.com/S0jHVVWuWM

— NOGUCHI, Soichi 野口　聡－（のぐち　そういち） (@Astro_Soichi) December 6, 2020

“Beautiful Hawaii islands,” tweets Noguchi.

Beautiful #Hawaii islands. #ハワイ pic.twitter.com/dh1U0PsSk5

— NOGUCHI, Soichi 野口　聡－（のぐち　そういち） (@Astro_Soichi) December 5, 2020

The Japanese astronaut points out the place where the Crew Dragon, which transported him and his fellow crew members to the ISS last month, was built.

#LosAngeles – our #resilience spacecraft was built here. pic.twitter.com/OssLoOtJBp

— NOGUCHI, Soichi 野口　聡－（のぐち　そういち） (@Astro_Soichi) December 5, 2020

Turning his gaze away from Earth for a moment, Noguchi captured this beautiful image of the moon, a place set to welcome the first woman and next man before the end of this decade.

#Moonrise pic.twitter.com/sz1TZa4Gew

— NOGUCHI, Soichi 野口　聡－（のぐち　そういち） (@Astro_Soichi) November 30, 2020

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Roman Space Telescope will survey the sky 1,000 times faster than Hubble
NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope

Since its launch in 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope has been delighting space fans with its stunning views of space objects near and far. But NASA has another space telescope in the works that will be able to help answer even more of the big questions in astronomy. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, set to launch in 2027 and colloquially known as Roman, will look at vast areas of space to help cosmologists understand the universe on a large scale.

In astronomy research, it's important to be able to look both in very great detail and on a very wide scale. Telescopes like Hubble and James Webb have exceptional sensitivity, so they can look at extremely distant objects. Roman will be different, aiming to get a broad view of the sky. The image below illustrates the differences between the telescopes, showing what Roman and Hubble can capture in one go and comparing Hubble's detailed, but narrow view to Roman's much wider view.

Read more
SpaceX Crew-6 astronauts arrive safely at space station
The space station crew all together following the arrival of SpaceX's Crew-6 in March 2023.

SpaceX's four Crew-6 members have safely boarded the International Space Station (ISS) following a voyage that lasted about 27 hours.

NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg, United Arab Emirates astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:34 a.m. ET on Thursday and reached the orbital outpost about 24 hours later.

Read more
Astronaut captures ‘unreal’ aurora image from space station
An aurora as viewed from the ISS.

A geomagnetic storm caused by a series of recent explosive events on the sun has brought spectacular auroras to parts of Earth in recent days.

Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) 250 miles above our planet have also been enjoying the amazing light show, with ISS inhabitant Josh Cassada sharing a stunning image that he captured just recently.

Read more