Bright blue balls appear in the image from space; understand what they are | technology

to me Earth Observatory, from NASA. The larger blue ball, seen at the bottom of the image, is bright lightning over the Gulf of Thailand. It is generally rare to notice lightning from inside the International Space Station, as clouds cover this type of event. But in the photographed case, this phenomenon occurred alongside a large gap that allowed the formation of the luminous ring.

The smaller ball at the top of the image is the moon. Light reflected from the sun passes directly through the Earth’s atmosphere, and this phenomenon turns the moon into a bright blue bubble.

The Vietnamese coast and Thailand take center stage (see below). For context, the distance from Hainan to Kunming, a city in southern China, is over 800 kilometers.

In the background of the photo, the circular shape of Hainan Island – the southernmost province of China – is outlined by the lights of its coastal cities. Millions of years ago, Hainan was connected to the mainland. Then a crack formed in the Hainan Strait, separating the two mainland groups. Today, Hainan is located about 20 kilometers from mainland China.

In several parts of the image, storm clouds blur the city lights in shades of white and orange. The landscape of Thailand is illuminated by the city lights of Ubon Ratchathani, Amnat Charoen and Yasothon and the network of roads connecting them. Inland along the coast of Vietnam, a patch of darkness includes less densely populated areas of southern Laos.