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Where is it?The Indian Ocean , off the glide of Madagascar
What ’s in the photos?The centre of tropic cyclone Bansi crystalise by lightning
Direct images of lightning strikes from space are rare because they are normally obscured by cloud cover.
Who took the photos?Unnamed astronauts on board the International Space Station ( ISS )
When were they taken?Jan . 12 , 2015
Two prominent photos captured by cosmonaut on board the ISS show the optic of the tropical cyclone Bansi as it was illuminated by lightning — twice in just a match of minutes .
The second photo captured during the storm also captured a phenomenon known as airglow shining above the curvature of Earth.
Bansi first reached name - tempest condition on Jan. 11 , 2015 , soon after it spring off the coast of Madagascar . The storm raged for around eight days , move from Madagascar into the Indian Ocean , where it made landfall in Mauritius before finally spread out as it headed back toward the French island Réunion .
Bansi peaked at Category 4 , with a maximum air current speed of around 115 miles per hour ( 185 km / h ) , according toNASA ’s Earth Observatory . On Jan. 13 , the optic of the storm measured around 12 miles ( 19 kilometers ) across , NASA ’s Goddard Space Flight Centerreported at the clock time .
On Jan. 12 , the ISS excrete over the cyclone ’s centre during an acute bout of lightning , provide cosmonaut with a alone photography opportunity . cosmonaut saw the tempest ’s oculus ignitor up at least double in just a few minutes : Thefirst photo(above ) was taken at 21:04:17 GMT , and thesecond image(below ) was snap at 21:05:53 GMT .
Related : See the serious images of Earth from space
Clear images of swank lightning are seldom taken from orbit around Earth because the phenomenon is usually obscured by cloud cover . However , the spectacular sight can be seen at the heart of tropic storm orsometimes from within hole in the cloud .
One of the most famous photos of lightning take from quad was captured in February 2019 , when an ISS astronautsnapped a exposure of an upward - shooting blue jetthat fire from the top of a electrical storm over the central Pacific Ocean .
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In the second image of Bansi , a soft gilt brightness level can be see to it shining above the curvature of Earth . This is airglow , an aurora - like phenomenon that happens when gases such as atomic number 8 and nitrogen are excited by commove mote and ultraviolet radiation from the sun .
Airglow ismost commonly spotted in and around solar maximum — the most active phase of the sun ’s rough 11 - twelvemonth solar Hz . The last solar level best peak around 2014 , concisely before Bansi formed . We are nowin the thick of another solar maximum , which has provided ISS cosmonaut with extra opportunities tophotograph these ethereal luminance shows .
