Astronaut Explains "Intriguing Sight" of Bright Dot Spotted on Earth From Space

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) recently shared an "intriguing" daylight sight of a bright dot in the middle of a desert on Earth.

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"A bright dot in the Negev desert...so unusual to see human-made lights in day passes!" European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti tweeted while sharing three photos showing a distant white speck against a brown landscape.

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In the caption, Ms Cristoforetti explained a bit about its origin. "It's a concentrated solar power plant, one of the technologies to get renewable energy from the sun. with one of the world's tallest solar power towers," she said.

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As per CNET, the bright dot was visible because of the Ashalim Solar Thermal Power Station, which uses mirrors to concentrate sunlight to an 820-feet-tall tower in the Negev desert of Israel.

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This tower is considered one of the world's tallest solar power towers. It is big enough to create the noticeable dot of light that Ms Cristoforetti spotted from the ISS.

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Ms Cristoforetti also added the hashtag #MissionMinerva to her post. Minerva is the name of her second expedition to the ISS. According to the ESA website, Ms Cristoforetti first flew to the Station in 2014 for her Italian Space Agency ASI-sponsored mission 'Futura'.

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Astronaut Explains "Intriguing Sight" of Bright Dot Spotted on Earth From Space

The bright dot was visible because of the Ashalim Solar Thermal Power Station in the Negev desert of Israel.

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An astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) recently shared an "intriguing" daylight sight of a bright dot in the middle of a desert on Earth.

Brought to you by Trickyenough

"A bright dot in the Negev desert...so unusual to see human-made lights in day passes!" European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti tweeted while sharing three photos showing a distant white speck against a brown landscape.

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In the caption, Ms Cristoforetti explained a bit about its origin. "It's a concentrated solar power plant, one of the technologies to get renewable energy from the sun. with one of the world's tallest solar power towers," she said.

Brought to you by Trickyenough

As per CNET, the bright dot was visible because of the Ashalim Solar Thermal Power Station, which uses mirrors to concentrate sunlight to an 820-feet-tall tower in the Negev desert of Israel.

Brought to you by Trickyenough

Take a look below:

This tower is considered one of the world's tallest solar power towers. It is big enough to create the noticeable dot of light that Ms Cristoforetti spotted from the ISS.

Brought to you by Trickyenough

Ms Cristoforetti also added the hashtag #MissionMinerva to her post. Minerva is the name of her second expedition to the ISS. According to the ESA website, Ms Cristoforetti first flew to the Station in 2014 for her Italian Space Agency ASI-sponsored mission 'Futura'.

Brought to you by Trickyenough

Here's an image from 2020 of what it looks like from a little closer to the ground: