Imagine witnessing the raw power of a tropical cyclone from space. That’s exactly what astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) experienced on January 12, 2015, as they captured stunning photos of Tropical Cyclone Bansi’s eye being illuminated by lightning.
The two images, taken just minutes apart, show the dramatic scene of the storm’s eye, a relatively calm area at the center of the cyclone, being repeatedly struck by lightning. This rare sight offered a unique perspective on the incredible energy unleashed during a tropical cyclone.
Bansi, which formed off the coast of Madagascar on January 11, 2015, was a powerful storm that reached Category 4 status, with maximum wind speeds around 115 mph (185 km/h). It raged for eight days, traversing the Indian Ocean and making landfall in Mauritius before eventually dissipating near the French island of Réunion.
The ISS happened to pass over the cyclone’s eye during an intense bout of lightning activity, providing the astronauts with an incredible photography opportunity. Clear images of lightning from orbit are rare because they are usually obscured by cloud cover. However, the heart of a tropical storm, like Bansi, provides a view of the spectacle.
In the second image, a soft golden light can be seen above the Earth’s curvature. This is airglow, a celestial phenomenon similar to an aurora, caused by gases like oxygen and nitrogen reacting with charged particles and ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Airglow is most prominent during solar maximum, the peak activity phase of the sun’s roughly 11-year cycle. The last solar maximum occurred around 2014, just before Bansi formed, and we are currently experiencing another solar maximum, providing astronauts with more opportunities to witness this ethereal light show.
These photos not only showcase the awe-inspiring beauty of a powerful storm from space but also serve as a reminder of the incredible forces of nature and the unique perspective that space travel offers to observe and understand our planet.
