While lightning is pretty spectacular to behold at the best of times, a new NASA photo shows the natural phenomena in all its glory, alongside the Milky Way.
Photographer Ivan Pedretti captured the stunning photo from the southern tip of the Italian island of Sardinia in June.
Now, NASA has now featured the snap as its Astronomy Picture of the Day.
NASA said: “The foreground rocks and shrubs are near the famous Capo Spartivento Lighthouse, and the camera is pointed south toward Algeria in Africa.
“In the distance, across the Mediterranean Sea, a thunderstorm is threatening, with several electric lightning strokes caught together during this 25-second wide-angle exposure.
“Much farther in the distance, strewn about the sky, are hundreds of stars in the neighborhood of our Sun in the Milky Way Galaxy.
“Furthest away, and slanting down from the upper left, are billions of stars that together compose the central band of our Milky Way.”
This isn’t the first time that NASA has featured a picture of lightning as its Astronomy Picture of the Day.
Earlier this year, NASA featured a photo of lightning striking the top of the Volcan de Agua volcano in Guatemala.
NASA wrote: “Pictured earlier this month in a two-image composite, lightning stems from communication antennas near the top of Volcán de Agua (Volcano of Water) in Guatemala.”
