Striking images of lightning storms raining down on Earth, captured by an astronaut 400 miles above

Stunning pictures from the top of the world show a unique view of lightning storms as they rain down on Earth.
The stellar images take storm chasing to new heights, having been snapped from a space station 400 miles above the Earth.
One of the most the impressive images shows the early morning Californian skies above Los Angeles and San Diego aglow with powerful flashes of lighting.

As the UK endured summer thunderstorms, here's how lightening looks from space. The images, taken by NASA, demonstrate the power of nature seen as flashes of white over the Earth's surface

The white bursts can clearly be seen forming abstract patterns above the orange lights of the cities below.
The photographs were taken from the International Space Station (ISS) orbiting the planet by NASA astronaut Karen L. Nyberg.
The storms erupted earlier this week, providing a spectacular light show for the astronaut.

NASA astronaut Karen L. Nyberg captured the stunning images. They reveal storms above West Africa and Asia, with this one of capturing an elusive red sprite. Sprites are shards of light caused by large-scale electrical discharges that take place high above thunderstorm clouds

Strom clouds, trails of meteor showers and the Sun rising on the horizon can also been seen in Nyberg's breath-taking photographs

She also photographed storms above West Africa and Asia, with one of her images capturing an elusive red sprite.
The phenomenon occurs when instead of shooting down towards the ground, lightning explodes in the clouds 50 miles up and fire the red tendrils even higher.
The massive explosion happened above Malaysia and the red sprite seen in this rare picture is six miles wide.

The storms erupted earlier this week, providing a spectacular light show for the astronaut

Strom clouds, trails of meteor showers and the Sun rising on the horizon can also been seen in Nyberg’s breath-taking photographs.
Nyberg, 43, was the 50th woman in space and is on board the ISS as a flight engineer – one of six astronauts taking part in the mission, Expedition 36.
The mother-of-one grew up in Minnesota and is married to fellow NASA astronaut Douglas Hurley.

Karen Nyberg, 43, who took the photos, was the 50th woman in space and is on board the International Space Station as a flight engineer

Her images follow that of an amateur astronomer, released yesterday, who has become the first person to capture a massive lightning strike 'into space' above the British Isles.
The atmospheric phenomena, known as sprites, had never been recorded in the UK before an amateur astronomer in East Yorkshire managed to take the photographic first.
Richard Kacerek, 33, spotted the sprite - caused by an upward lightning discharge five miles east of Hull.