The brightly lit <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Metropolitan_areas" title="Category:Metropolitan areas">metropolitan areas</a> of <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Torino" title="Torino">Torino</a> (<a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Italy" class="mw-redirect" title="Italy">Italy</a>), <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Lyon" title="Lyon">Lyon</a>, and <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Marseille" title="Marseille">Marseille</a> (both in <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/France" title="France">France</a>) stand out amidst numerous smaller urban areas in this dramatic astronaut photograph. The image captures the nighttime appearance of the France-Italy border. The southwestern end of the <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Alps" title="Category:Alps">Alps</a> Mountains separates the two countries. The island of <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Corsica" class="mw-redirect" title="Corsica">Corsica</a> is visible in the <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ligurian_Sea" title="Category:Ligurian Sea">Ligurian Sea</a> to the south (image top). The full <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Moon" title="Moon">moon</a> reflects brightly on the <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Water" title="Water">water</a> surface and also illuminates the tops of low patchy <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cloud" title="Cloud">clouds</a> over the border (image centre). This image was taken by an <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station" title="International Space Station">International Space Station</a> (ISS) astronaut at approximately 11:55 p.m. local time, when the ISS was located over the France-<a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Belgium" class="mw-redirect" title="Belgium">Belgium</a> border near <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Luxembourg" class="mw-redirect" title="Luxembourg">Luxembourg</a>.
NASA Expedition 23 crew
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=44124">NASA Earth Observatory</a>