Donald Pettit, a NASA astronaut, shared an impressive photo of Mecca taken from an altitude of 400 kilometers after returning from his fourth expedition to the International Space Station (ISS).
In the photograph, Mecca appears as a shining city, with the Masjid al-Haram — the largest mosque in the world — prominently highlighted at its center, where the sacred Kaaba is located. This site, the holiest in Islam, is so bright that it can be seen even from space. The brightness of the mosque is due to powerful floodlights and LED lamps that illuminate it around the clock.
The photo was taken with a high-quality Nikon camera through the panoramic window of the Cupola module. To capture a clear image while the station was moving at a speed of 28,000 km/h, Pettit used a short exposure time. He is known for his original methods of photographing star trails and nighttime cityscapes.
