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Posted: 04/17/12 07:52 AM ET  |  Updated: 04/17/12 08:38 AM ET

Moscow Image From International Space Station Dazzles (PHOTO)

Here's one from Russia with love.

The crew aboard the International Space Station snapped this amazing photo of Moscow from orbit in March of this year.

SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTO

The cluster of lights, of course, is the Russian capital. The aurora borealis is visible on the horizon while daybreak can be seen in the right corner, according to NASA. The object in the left-hand portion of the photo is one of the space station's solar panels.

This image was taken from an altitude of about 240 miles above Earth, according to NASA.

The ISS travels at a speed of about 17,000 miles per hour, and because it only takes 90 minutes to orbit Earth, the space station completes about 16 orbits per day.

Hungry for more views from the ISS? Check out this amazing picture and this video of the Atlantic coast.

LOOK: Moscow at Night:

Also on HuffPost:

GALLERY: THE EARTH FROM SPACE
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  • Sandy Cay

    This astronaut photograph taken on Nov. 27, 2010, provides a view of tidal flats and channels near Sandy Cay, on the western side of Long Island, and along the eastern margin of the Great Bahama Bank, on the islands of Bahamas. The continuously exposed parts of the island are brown, a result of soil formation and vegetation growth. To the north of Sandy Cay, an off-white tidal flat composed of carbonate sediments is visible; light blue-green regions indicate shallow water on the tidal flat.

  • Lake Nasser

    Egypt's Lake Nasser was photographed in January 2005 from the International Space Station.

  • Sahara Desert

    Tassili n'Ajjer National Park, part of the Sahara Desert, has a bone-dry climate with scant rainfall, yet it doesn't blend in with Saharan dunes. Instead, the rocky plateau rises above the surrounding sand seas. This image from 2000 was made from multiple observations by the Landsat 7 satellite, using a combination of infrared, near-infrared and visible light to better distinguish among the park's various rock types.

  • Hydrogen Sulfide and Dust Plumes on Namibia's Coast

    Cloudless skies allowed a clear view of dust and hydrogen sulfide plumes along the coast of Namibia in early August 2010. Multiple dust plumes blow off the coast toward the ocean, most or all of them probably arising from stream beds. Unlike the reddish-tan sands comprising the dunes directly south of the Kuiseb River, the stream-channel sediments are lighter in color. Wind frequently pushes dust plumes seaward along the Namibian coast.

  • Egypt

    The Nile River and its delta look like a brilliant, long-stemmed flower in this astronaut photograph of the southeastern Mediterranean Sea, as seen from the International Space Station on Oct. 28, 2010. The Cairo metropolitan area forms a particularly bright base of the flower.

  • Islands of Four Mountains

    The snow-capped volcanoes composing the Islands of the Four Mountains in Alaska's Aleutian Island chain look suspiciously like alien worlds in this August 2010 image from the ASTER camera aboard NASA's orbiting Terra satellite.

  • Aurora Australis

    This NASA image shows the aurora australis observed from the International Space Station on May 29, 2010. This aurora image was taken during a geomagnetic storm that was most likely caused by a coronal mass ejection from the sun on May 24.

  • Sarychev Volcano

    Astronauts at the International Space Station captured this striking view of the Sarychev volcano on Russia's Kuril Islands in an early stage of eruption on June 12, 2009. Sarychev Peak is one of the most active volcanoes in the Kuril Islands chain.

  • Arctic Eclipse

    NASA's Terra satellite was rounding the top of the globe -- making its way from the eastern tip of Siberia and across the Arctic Ocean toward northwest Russia -- when it captured this unique view of a total solar eclipse on Aug. 1, 2008. In the area shown in the image, the sun was obscured for about two minutes. As Earth rotated, the shadow moved southeast across the surface. At the same time, the satellite crossed the Arctic with its path nearly perpendicular to the eclipse.

  • Fargo

    The Advanced Land Imager on NASA's Earth Observing-1 satellite shows a snowy blanket over Fargo, N.D., on Dec. 12.

  • Mount Everest

    Astronauts captured this image highlighting the northern entry to Mount Everest from Tibet on Jan. 6. Climbers travel along the East Rongbuk Glacier, shown on the lower left, to camp at the base of Changtse mountain.

  • Island Beauty

    The south end of Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas shimmers in turquoise waters in this 2002 photo from the International Space Station.

  • Massive Sandstorm

    A massive sandstorm sweeps over Qatar as it races south toward southeastern Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Feb. 15, 2004. A major upper-level, low-pressure system over southwestern Asia led to a series of storms sweeping through the area. The crew of the International Space Station captured this image with a digital camera using a 50-millimeter lens.

  • Lake Naivasha, Kenya

    Flowers grow year round in sun-drenched Kenya, and nowhere are they more plentiful than Lake Naivasha, shown here. In this view from space, bright white squares mix with fields of green, tan and purple along the shores of the lake. Sunlight glints off the long rows of glass greenhouses, turning them silvery blue and white. Fallow fields are tan and pink, while growing plants turn the ground bright green. Roses, lilies and carnations are the most common flowers grown in the greenhouses and fields scattered around the lake.

  • Cumulonimbus Cloud Over Africa

    High above the African continent, tall, dense cumulonimbus clouds, meaning "cloud heap" in Latin, are the result of atmospheric instability. The clouds can form alone, in clusters or along a cold front in a squall line. The high energy of these storms is associated with heavy precipitation, lightning, high wind speeds and tornadoes. <em>Correction: A previous version of this slide offered an inaccurate translation of "cumulonimbus."</em>

FOLLOW SCIENCE

Here's one from Russia with love. The crew aboard the International Space Station snapped this amazing photo of Moscow from orbit in March of this year. SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTO The cluster of l...
Here's one from Russia with love. The crew aboard the International Space Station snapped this amazing photo of Moscow from orbit in March of this year. SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTO The cluster of l...
Filed by Timothy Stenovec  | 
 
 
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06:20 AM on 05/30/2012
Picture of Moscow goes to show that the most efficient city street layout is the circle. It creates the shortest distances between any two points for travel, thus saving energy. We also need to replace those high wattage lights with something more efficient like LEDs and better design.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Roadrun
In Financial Theocracy we Trust
08:48 AM on 05/28/2012
I had guessed Dallas.
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LMPE
I connect the most dissimilar things
06:41 PM on 04/22/2012
So what? Sarah Palin can see that country from her house (although not necessarily that city).
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
rg9rts
Carpe Diem! This aint rehearsal
04:40 PM on 04/20/2012
Stunning! Absolutely Stunning!
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
LibertarianCentrist
Gary Johnson 2016!
10:16 AM on 04/19/2012
Caprica???
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crankyCrackPot
My imaginary friend says that you need a therapist
09:42 AM on 04/18/2012
Impressive... but what would be more impressive is if they were more conscious of Light Pollution.
Syllogizer
Barely Left of Pobedonostsev
01:32 PM on 04/19/2012
Maybe that is why so much of the rest of the country is almost as dark as North Korea;)
photo
crankyCrackPot
My imaginary friend says that you need a therapist
02:30 PM on 04/19/2012
Anything that doesn't violate the physical laws of nature is always at least possible, but I'd sooner expect to see flying pigs. ;-)
Just imagine that tho.. airborne bacon.
08:04 AM on 04/18/2012
Ah...so fragile and blue, mother earth our only one planet conducive to support life, lets take care of her.
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Anybodyseenthepopos
אני כלום בלעדיהם
06:50 AM on 04/18/2012
Aww how pretty. The earth actually looks sweet. You'd never know what kind of troublemakers reside there.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
stella801
... --- ...
12:05 AM on 04/18/2012
Seeing the Earth from Space is so humbling. We should all appreciate how special it is and try to get along better and take care of this planet. This planet is truly amazing and special. If only all the inhabitants could grasp that.
03:36 PM on 04/17/2012
This planet hasn't been more #$# up in all of times!
#$#$ russia @#@# the middle east and #$#$ globalization
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Cam Chatka
microbial life form
03:24 PM on 04/17/2012
I can see Napoleon advancing along two axes of attack from the south and southwest. He'd better hurry before winter sets in. General Frost will exact a heavy revenge. Good thing no one else in history would be fool enough to try this.
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transfix
iconoclast
02:59 PM on 04/17/2012
AH, MOTHERLAND!
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PashaRu
Век живи - век учись.
02:35 PM on 04/17/2012
Cool photo. Especially because I live there.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
OC4Obama4Pres
08:50 PM on 04/22/2012
I guessed it immediately before clicking on the article. Shocked myself.
02:07 PM on 04/17/2012
So excited to head over there in a couple months!
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
mcurtis2962
01:00 PM on 04/17/2012
Beautiful!