This very long exposure shot of the Earth was captured by astronaut Don Pettit, who spent time aboard the International Space Station during Expeditions 30 and 31. Numerous images of 30 second exposure were captured and stacked together to create this image, which presents a 15 minute exposure.
To explain the picture, the orange/yellow lights are streaks from cities visible thus because of the long exposure. The white-blue spots are lightning strikes, and the vertical stripes are star trails caused by the motion of the International Space Station.
Via Reddit
Source: NASA on Flickr, Wikimedia Commons
