'No Crop Needed': Astronaut Shares Breathtaking Photo Of Lightning Taken From Space

We often come across many striking and unbelievably beautiful photos of the earth from space, shared by different space agencies and astronauts on social media. These offer a stunning view of our planet. On August 17, Astronaut Matthew Dominick posted one such image that has truly amazed everyone and has been going viral. He has clicked a breathtaking shot of lighting up the night sky over India.

“Lightning at night over India. When trying to capture lighting in an image I use burst mode and hope lighting strikes in the frame,” he wrote in his post on X. “I was super happy when this lightning strike ended up in the middle of the frame. No crop needed,” he added.

The image, which was uploaded only a few hours ago, shows a stunning view from the International Space Station. The photo has also prompted a spirited discussion and amusing reactions from the social media users.

A user asked, “Is that blurring of the city lights from camera shake, atmospheric, or just the motion of the orbit?”

To which Astronaut Dominick replied, “In the bottom middle of the image you can see lights from boats in the waters that look like short little lines or streaks. The streaks are caused by the space station’s orbital speed and the distance the space station moves in 1/5s (camera’s exposure time). The blur over the city in the left/middle of the frame is likely light haze and/or clouds combined with streaking from orbital speed.”

Another person said, “Supercool! Looking at it, it looks like the lightning strike is somewhere in the middle of the Deccan plateau, a region like Bangalore… is that correct? Please let us know which part of India.”

“Incredible picture!” a user commented.

“This is one of the most interesting photos I have seen in my life,” a person also remarked.

The photograph surely reminds us of how stunning natural phenomena can be. What do you think of this image?