Ever been scared by a lighting storm? This Vine video of one over India on Friday evening could change the way you look at them.
The video was taken by NASA astronaut Terry Virts, who is currently on the International Space Station. Virts seems to have spent quite a bit of time over the last few days taking pictures of India. He posted a couple of views of the southeast coast of the country.
Moonlit clouds over southeast #India coastline, with Chennai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad. pic.twitter.com/z9wSvs7YXg — Terry W. Virts (@AstroTerry) May 7, 2015
Bright city lights from Chennai #India. pic.twitter.com/QNs71BhndM — Terry W. Virts (@AstroTerry) May 6, 2015
Virts is presumably using the High Definition Earth Viewing cameras that also offer live streaming of the earth from the space station to anyone who wants to watch. In addition to the photos, some of the videos it provides are truly stunning, even when truncated into a Vine format. The next two videos, with Virts and the space station gliding over India's gangetic plains, and the east coast, are exactly what you would expect them to be if you're familiar with the map. And yet they still manage to be beautiful.