Lightning From Space Makes Earth Look Like An Alien Planet

Lightning looks pretty cool from the ground. It looks awesome on a volcano.

From space? It looks like an alien nightmare.

This footage was record on the International Space Station and released by the European Space Agency.

And it's not as simple as just pointing a camera out of the windows. Astronauts travel at 8 km/s on ISS, and at that point the planet moves too quickly to take good pictures of lightning.

So how as it taken? ESA explains:

"ESA’s Nightpod camera aid compensates for the motion of the Station, allowing for crystal-clear night images such as these. The target stays firmly centred in the frame, so the final image is in focus. Astronauts can set up the device to take ultra-sharp images automatically using off-the-shelf cameras."