'City of Lights' as seen at night from space: Space photo of the day (2025)

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From the vantage point of the photo, you are looking down at 2.05 million people — the population of France's capital and largest city.

Paris is known as the "City of Lights" for its early and extensive use of street lighting and it being at the center of the Enlightenment, a historical period characterized by the rise of reason, the scientific method and liberty. As this photo documents, its nickname is well deserved, especially from high above Earth at night.

This photo of Paris was taken at 9:54 p.m. local time on March 14, 2025 from 261 miles (420 kilometers) above the city through a window aboard the International Space Station.

The astronaut who captured this shot — possibly Expedition 72 flight engineer Don Pettit, who has been working on photo documenting cities at night — used by Nikon Z9 full-frame mirrorless camera with a 200mm lens.

From this orientation, the Eiffel Tower can be seen glowing brightly in yellow light left of center. Just north of it, lit in white is the Arc de Triomphe.

The Palais Garnier and the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre can be seen above the center of the photo,

Robert Z. Pearlman

collectSPACE.com Editor, Space.com Contributor

Robert Pearlman is a space historian, journalist and the founder and editor of collectSPACE.com, a daily news publication and community devoted to space history with a particular focus on how and where space exploration intersects with pop culture. Pearlman is also a contributing writer for Space.com and co-author of "Space Stations: The Art, Science, and Reality of Working in Space” published by Smithsonian Books in 2018.In 2009, he was inducted into the U.S. Space Camp Hall of Fame in Huntsville, Alabama. In 2021, he was honored by the American Astronautical Society with the Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History. In 2023, the National Space Club Florida Committee recognized Pearlman with the Kolcum News and Communications Award for excellence in telling the space story along the Space Coast and throughout the world.