We have all seen that bright and illuminated pictures of India from space during Diwali. However, most of the times the photos have been declared to be fake a couple of days later. While celebrating Diwali, the festival of lights this week, India just received an amazing gift from the ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli.
Astronaut Paolo Nespoli is currently stationed at International Space Station (ISS) and from there he took his time out to wish the people on Earth on the occasion of Diwali and posted an image of India from space on Twitter.
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"Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, starts today. #HappyDiwali to everyone! #VITAmission," wrote Nespoli on his post.
It goes without saying that the image looked stunning. Here take a look –
Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, starts today. #HappyDiwali to everyone! #VITAmission pic.twitter.com/Uygnc8tTWx
— Paolo Nespoli (@astro_paolo) October 19, 2017
While many went on to think that this is how India looks on Diwali from space, the picture was actually taken by the astronaut 20 days before Diwali on September 29, says Nespoli's Flickr account, where he uploaded the picture that day.
The bright orange line in the middle of the picture actually appears to be the Pakistan-India international border, as demonstrated on another picture by NASA.
The 60-year-old Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli has been an occupant of the orbiting laboratory for over a month now. He is there for the ongoing Vita Mission as part of Expedition 52/53.
