Bad Astronomy

Buonanotte, Italia

I love pictures of Earth from space, but there’s something especially thrilling when it’s some place you can easily recognize instantly. Like, say, the boot heel of Italy at night:

Sigh. Così bella! [Click to empeninsulate.]

This picture was taken by an astronaut on board the International Space Station. There’s not a lot of science to be done necessarily with pictures like this, but sometimes it’s OK just to gawk at pretty pictures from space.

And come to think of it… not that I recognized it, but just to the left of the top of the heel is Bari, a town I spent a day in while cruising with the Center for Inquiry. CfI sponsors many cruises to help raise funds, so keep an ear open for them. The JREF does things like this sometimes, too.

Italy is lovely from the ground, but, like the rest of the planet, literally takes on a new dimension from space.

Image credit: NASA

Related posts:

- The storm below
- A puzzling planet picture from the ISS
- Followup: city lights from space
- Goodnight, Earth