A view of the Nile river at night, as seen from outer space

Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryazanskiy captured an image of the Nile at night — as viewed from space — surrounded by lights that are just as bright from outer space as they are from Cairo’s streets. The image is both a pretty aerial view of the river and a visual representation of how dense the population is around the Nile Basin versus areas farther into the desert. You can check out more of his pictures of Earth via his Twitter account.