French astronaut shares picture of Abu Dhabi at night from space

Thomas Pesquet, a European Space Agency astronaut on board the International Space Station, shared a picture of the UAE capital taken from his trip in orbit

A European Space Agency astronaut on board the International Space Station took this picture of Abu Dhabi. All photos: Thomas Pesquet

The lights of Dubai shine bright from space.

The tree-shaped Palm Jumeirah island is easy to spot.

A French astronaut has shared a picture of the twinkling lights of Abu Dhabi from space.

Thomas Pesquet, a European Space Agency astronaut who is on board the International Space Station, tweeted a dazzling snapshot of the capital taken from his trip into orbit.

The outline of the city and its suburbs can be seen from above, lit up and laid out in neat sections, complete with a mystery arrow near the bottom of the shot.

“Abu Dhabi at night is a very distinctive city,” he tweeted.

“The districts seem to have different layouts and different lighting and there are distinct shapes to be made out.”

It is not the first time Mr Pesquet has shared images of the UAE from above. In June he tweeted two pictures of The Palm, Jumeirah, taken from orbit.

On Tuesday, he took command of the space station from Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut and fellow Crew-2 member Akihiko Hoshide.

Mr Pesquet will hold this role until shortly before Crew-2 return to Earth in November, the European Space Agency said.

An enormous projection of Mr Pesquet appeared on Al Wasl Dome last week when he spoke to Expo 2020 visitors live from the ISS as part of the fair’s celebration of France.