Viral Video: Astronaut shares stunning image of natural phenomenon over this city, it is...

An astronaut has shared a stunning lightning image taken from aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The image shows a lightning thunderstorm above Italy’s Milan which offered a rare view. Astronaut Nichole “Vapor” Ayers shared the image on social media showing a lightning sequence. The image has since gone viral for its visual beauty and scientific significance.

A stunning view of lightning 

Fellow astronaut Col Anne McClain initially drew attention to the video, which is a collage of still images taken at a speed of 120 frames per second, which shows a major storm high above Earth’s atmosphere. As can be seen from the images shared by Astronaut Nichole, the lightning bolts looked like electric networks moving like a dance over the skies which made the city glow like gold and could easily be recognised.

In his social media post, Ayers wrote, “We have such a unique view of lightning up here and we’ve been trying to capture as much as possible. For these pictures, I got lucky that Milan was close by. It provides a gauge for just how big some of these storms and lightning flashes can be.” These images were not just taken to show the beauty of such incidents but are a major source of scientific information to analyse and understand the formation, intensity, and frequency of lightning storms from a position which is not possible to attain from earth.

July 18, 2025

Scientists aboard the International Space Station have the advantage of observing such stunning weather phenomena from different areas of earth very rapidly. This is due to the International Space Station that orbits the planet around every 90 minutes.

To capture such images, which occur for a short duration but are impactful for their vivid details. Storms like the one seen over Milan are not unusual phenomenon but when seen from space, they offer a scientific approach as they showcase broad details of the natural phenomenon with a whole new perspective. The video is a stunning show of those who are curious about space phenomenon and all that happens in the sky.