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A French astronaut with a penchant for photography has created a detailed digital collage of the Channel Islands from 400km above.
During his latest six-month 'Alpha' mission at the International Space Station, the European Space Agency’s Thomas Pesquet has been spending his free time looking out of the European-built Cupola windows at Earth below and snapping the sights he sees.
So high up, Thomas must use the longest lens available on board – 1150mm – to capture the photos.
The results are incredibly detailed, as one of his most recent works – of Jersey and Guernsey – demonstrated.
CLICK TO ENLARGE: Astronaut Thomas Pesquet's snap of Jersey and Guernsey from the International Space Station. (ESA/NASA - T. Pesquet)
Created from 51 photographs digitally “stitched together”, the resulting collage clearly captures local landmarks ranging from St. Catherine’s Breakwater to the Havre des Pas Lido and Elizabeth Castle.
Sark is visible too, while boats can also be seen whizzing around the islands’ coastlines.
Sharing the image with his 2.2m Instagram followers on Sunday, the aerospace engineer and pilot took the opportunity to share some facts about the two largest Channel Islands.
“Ready to hop across the Channel Islands? Jersey, bottom right, has one of the largest tidal ranges in the world. As a result, it almost doubles in size twice every day with the low tide,” Thomas wrote.
“Next up is Guernsey, smaller and further north, it's the second largest island in the Channel. Guernsey hasn't always been an island: 8,000 years ago, it was the tip of a peninsula attached to the European continent before being separated by rising sea waters.”
The post didn’t only pique the interest of islanders, but international followers too, with around 55,000 liking the photo since it was shared on Sunday.
Its not the first time Thomas has set his sights on Jersey and Guernsey, with the Channel Islands featuring in a snap of Cotentin and Caen from above back in 2017.
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