One of the Expedition 41 crew members aboard the International Space Station, flying at an altitude of 220 nautical miles, photographed this night panorama of parts of Europe on Oct. 1, 2014.
Kiev, Ukraine is seen near the right edge of the photo in the vertical center. Lights of Constanta, Romania can be seen just below the Russian Progress 56 cargo vehicle docked to the orbital outpost at the top of the frame. The Black Sea is to the left of the Soyuz TMA-13M docked to the station on the left side of the scene. The Sea of Azov is at the right of the bottom portion the Soyuz. Mariupol is near bottom center; and Donetsk, although it appears as a (bottom-most) tiny smudge on the right side of the image, has a population of just under five million.
Krasnodar, Russia is in the bottom left corner. Part of Greece is in the top of the image near the solar panel of the Progress, with Thessaloniki and Sofia among the many bright lights. Part of Turkey is in upper left of the land mass visible. Pre-dawn light coming through the atmosphere gives the station hardware a bluish color.
ISS041-E-057060 (1 Oct. 2014) – Larger image