The 15 most jaw-dropping images of Earth from space in 2015

Original Post: Dina Spector
Dec. 30, 2015, 6:02 AM


NASA

Astronauts on board the International Space Station beamed back some spectacular views of Earth this year.

The Earth Observations team at NASA's Johnson Space Center selected the 15 best photographs, which we've republished here.

Check them out, then head over to NASA to view their full image gallery.


Astronauts aboard the International Space Station took this image of Adele Island, off Australia’s north coast, on June 11, 2015. The tiny island is only 2.9 kilometres (2 miles) long.

NASA


This image shows landscapes of the arid Sahara and the dark green marshes of Lake Chad, which stand out in the foreground.

NASA


Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano is seen on the left in a photo taken in February.

NASA



The peaks of Colombia’s Santa Marta are so high that trees cannot grow. The highest peak has a permanent snow cap and is the only place where snow can be seen from the tropical beaches of the Caribbean coast.

NASA


Southern Scandinavia is illuminated under a full moon in this image, which also features a green aurora to the north and the Baltic Sea, seen as a black patch in the lower right of the photo.

NASA


The Paraná River, South America’s second-largest, pours brown muddy water into a wide estuary known as the River Plate.

NASA

The snow-covered Himalaya range is seen near the China–India border.

NASA


Laguna Colorada, a lake in the Bolivian Andes Mountains, lies at 4,300 metres (14,100 feet) above sea level. Algae in the water is responsible for the lake's deep red-brown color.

NASA


Fish farms are seen on the coast of China’s northeast province of Liaoning.

NASA



This September image shows the winding border between Pakistan and India, one of the few places on Earth where an international boundary can be seen at night.

NASA


Brightly-coloured salt ponds are seen on the coast of Tunisia's port city, Sfax.

NASA


Red-brown coastal lagoons are seen on this stretch of Western Australia's coastline, in a photo taken on June 11.

NASA



This photo, taken on June 15, shows the northern tip of Massachusetts' Cape Cod.

NASA


The Mekong River, Southeast Asia’s largest river, flows on the border between Thailand and Laos. Heavy monsoon rainfall at the end of July created a red-brown channel of floodwater.

NASA


A red sprite — a major electrical discharge thought to occur during large thunderstorms — is captured above the white light of an active thunderstorm high over Missouri or Illinois.