Naples and the Mount Vesuvius seen from ISS

Naples and the Mount Vesuvius, one of the three major active volcanoes in Italy, seen from space.

ESA's Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli took this photo on Christmas eve from the International Space Station, where he is serving as a flight engineer with Cady Coleman, Dmitri Kondratyev, Oleg Skripochka, Alexander Kaleri and commander Scott Kelly.

Paolo’s MagISStra mission is Europe’s third long-duration mission on the ISS. He will land back to Earth in June 2010.