The easily recognisable boot-shape of Italy, with Sicily at its toe, spread across this panorama taken by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS). On a clear night looking east, the pattern of night lights shows populations concentrated mainly along the coastlines, but also in the Po River Valley of northern Italy (L). Some of the brightest clusters of lights are Rome and nearby Naples, with island cities of Cagliari on Sardinia and Catania on Sicily. The small, dark, circular patch dangerously close to Catania marks the unpopulated slopes of the active volcano Etna. The island of Malta appears at the lower right. The airglow line is vivid in this night shot.