Channel Island hopping

ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet is spending six months on the International Space Station as part of his second mission "Alpha". In his free time, like many astronauts, he enjoys looking out of the European-built Cupola windows at Earth below. This image of the Channel Islands (Jersey and Guernsey) is made up of 51 photos stitched together to create one big picture taken on 15 June 2021 from 13:20 GMT.

The International Space Station flies at roughly 400 km altitude so Thomas uses the longest lens available onboard: 1150 mm to capture these photos. Zoom in and move around to explore in greater detail.