12 absolutely stunning photos of Earth taken from space.
I'm just gonna go ahead and say that the ISS might just be the greatest photography vantage point ever.
Astronaut Tim Peake just posted an incredible time-lapse video of what a lightning storm over Earth looks like from space.
GIF via Tim Peake/Facebook.
Captured by the International Space Station (ISS) as it passed over Turkey on its way to Russia, the video offers a breathtaking portrait of what it looks like to live in space — in fact, it makes "Interstellar" look like a middle-school science project gone awry.
"Amazing how much lightning can strike our planet in a short time," Peake wrote on Facebook.
Peake's video is just the latest in an extraordinary series of images the ISS has given us over the years. In fact, there are many more pictures of our Earth from space, too. Check 'em out:
1. London at night.
All photos via NASA.
Speaking of Peake, the British astronaut first headed to space in December 2015 and has been regularly posting brilliant images and videos to his Instagram ever since. A former British Army Air Corps officer and the first British European Space Agency astronaut, Peake uploaded this photo of his native London at night on Jan. 31, 2016. Kind of the defeats the notion that England is all gray clouds and fog, doesn't it?
2. The aurora borealis.
Believe it or not, some astronauts are actually trained in photography as part of their preparation for traveling into outer space. Among them is current ISS Commander Scott Kelly, who took this photo with Peake on Jan. 20, 2016.
"Getting a photo masterclass from @StationCDRKelly – magical," Peake wrote on Twitter.
Sign me up.
3. Earth art from Australia.
Not to be outdone, Commander Kelly posted this photo during a flyover of Australia back in October 2015 as part of a 17 photo series. G'day, indeed.
4. Fan art from Australia.
Of course, you don't have to be a professional photographer — or even an astronaut, apparently — to take some stunning space photos. This image of the northwest corner of Australia "was snapped by a student on Earth after remotely controlling the Sally Ride EarthKAM aboard the International Space Station," according to NASA.
5. Fingerprints of water on the sand.
Photographs taken from the ISS serve a much greater purpose beyond simply being gorgeous to look at. In rain-deprived areas like Oman, where this photo was snapped by NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, there are thousands of people who lack access to clean water on a daily basis. By teaming with local aid organizations, NASA is able to discover previously untapped water sources and provide these at-risk areas with water purification technology used onboard the ISS.
6. The eye of the storm.
Another benefit of space photography: incredibly precise storm-tracking. Kelly took this photo of Hurricane Danny as the ISS orbited over the central Atlantic Ocean. So again, there's more than just a bunch of pretty views going on here, people...
7. Those views, though.
...which is not to say that ISS astronauts aren't able to capture some remarkable images, like this shot of British Columbia's Coast Mountains taken by Tim Peake on Jan. 5, 2016.
8. The ultimate skybox.
Kelly snapped This photo of Levi's Stadium on the evening of Super Bowl 50. Think of it as the ultimate skybox, if you will. I can only imagine how Eli Manning would've reacted to this.
9. Starry night.
Here's a photo of England, the Baltic Sea, and the Persian Gulf captured by Samantha Cristoforetti. I'd guess this one would have given Vincent Van Gogh a heart attack (ack-ack-ack).
10. Sunrise.
Can't ... look ... away ... too ... awesome...
11. America, the beautiful.
I don't know if it's even possible, but I want this picture on my gravestone. SOMEONE FIGURE OUT THE LOGISTICS FOR ME.
12. EPIC space selfies.
The commander himself, Scott Kelly.
Your move, Ellen DeGeneres.
Aside from doing some of the world's most prestigious whisky-aging, the ISS might just be the greatest photography vantage point ever as well.
Peake's video has already been viewed almost 1 million times on Facebook since being posted on Tuesday, and thousands of eager parents have flooded their social media pages to thank both Peake and Kelly for inspiring their children, too.
This is just another reason to reach for the stars, kids. Because one day, you might actually get to touch them.
Check out the full video here:



A Generation Jones teenager poses in her room.Image via Wikmedia Commons
An office kitchen.via
An angry man eating spaghetti.via 
Gif of baby being baptized
Woman gives toddler a bath Canva


An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
- YouTube youtube.com
Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.