The most captivating pictures of Earth taken from space in 2017
Top picks of the year also include Solar Evaporation Ponds of Utah, Namibia's Namib Desert, Kazakhstan's Lake Alakol and Aurora Borealis over Canada.
Solar Evaporation Ponds - Utah: An astronaut aboard the International Space Station took this photograph of solar evaporation ponds outside the city of Moab, Utah. There are 23 colorful ponds spread across 400 acres. They are part of a large operation to mine potassium chloride — more commonly referred to as muriate of potash (MOP)—from ore buried underground.
NASA has released this year's top photos of the earth taken from space.
The 17 photos were chosen at the space agency's Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit.
Here are some of the pictures collected by the International Space Station, which is currently home to six astronauts.
Checkerboarding - Idaho: An astronaut aboard the International Space Station captured this distinctive checkerboard pattern along the Priest River in northern Idaho, US. It was taken just before sunset so southfacing mountain sides glow while the north faces are shadowed. The checkerboard of white squares is snow visible on deforested ground where trees have been removed for logging. These alternate with the dark squares of dense forest that obscure the snow from the astronaut's view.
Cosmoledo Atoll - Seychelles: This raised coral island wraps around the bright blue lagoon in a ring-shaped formation, a characteristic of atolls. Atolls like this one in Seychelles are usually indications of an extinct volcano or seamount eroding below the water surface.
Russia's shelterbelts: This photograph shows the parallel lines of a major shelterbelt—also known as a windbreak — crossing the steppes of southern Russia near the Volga River (Volgograd Oblast).
Big Island - Hawaii: The Island of Hawaii is a vast canvas of environments from desert shores and rain forests to frozen mountain heights.
Lake Alakol with Ice - Kazakhstan: Ice breaks up on the surface of Lake Alakol as temperatures start to warm and welcome spring after a frozen winter. The lake sits in a narrow valley pass known as Dzungarian Gate, which connects China to Central Asia and stretches over a distance of 4,828 kilometers.
Namib Desert - Namibia: Dunes grow upon dunes in one of the most visually spectacular places on Earth, Namibia.
City Lights - Northwestern Europe: Several of the oldest cities of northwestern Europe are highlighted in this nighttime astronaut photograph.
Hurricane Jose - Caribbean: Hurricane Jose hit its peak recorded wind speed of 155mph when this image was taken over Caribbean, as the storm's eye barely missed Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles.
Sunrise - Philippine Sea: An astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) took this photograph of the partial disc of the Sun just as it began to rise, creating a sheet of light across the horizon. Silhouetted clouds give the sense of a jumbled mountain range. Numerous individual layers of the atmosphere appear above the Sun from this perspective.
Aurora Borealis - Canada: Among the views of Earth afforded astronauts aboard the International Space Station, surely one of the most spectacular is of the aurora.
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