--- title: Astronaut Tim Peake Posts Video of Lightning Striking Earth description: Astronaut Tim Peake posted a stunning time-lapse video of what a lightning storm looks like from space. canonical: https://time.com/4214285/astronaut-tim-peake-footage-lightning-striking-earth/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-09T19:52:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:42.465Z og:title: Astronaut Shares Incredible Footage of Lightning Striking Earth og:description: "Amazing how much lightning can strike our planet in a short time" og:url: https://time.com/4214285/astronaut-tim-peake-footage-lightning-striking-earth/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Astronaut Shares Incredible Footage of Lightning Striking Earth twitter:description: "Amazing how much lightning can strike our planet in a short time" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Astronaut Tim Peake Shares Incredible Footage of Lightning Striking Earth  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Feb 9, 2016 7:52 PM UTC  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Feb 9, 2016 7:52 PM UTC [Astronaut Tim Peake](http://time.com/4175682/astronaut-bowie-tribute/) posted a stunning time-lapse video of what a lightning storm looks like from space. The [British cosmonaut](http://time.com/4182787/british-spacewalk-ended-early/), who is currently stationed aboard the [International Space Station](http://time.com/4146994/star-wars-space-station-astronauts/), shared the 34-second clip early Tuesday morning on [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/ESATimPeake/videos/vb.606249199414870/1091204337586018/?type=2&theater) and [Twitter](https://twitter.com/astro%5Ftimpeake/status/696998286826147841?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw). The footage, which shows a series of electric bolts striking Earth, was captured over North Africa and Turkey as the ISS flew towards Russia, according to Peake. “Amazing how much lightning can strike our planet in a short time,” he wrote. **Read More:** [Watch Astronaut Tim Peake Explain How to Use the Bathroom in Space](http://time.com/4186965/astronaut-tim-peake-how-bathrooms-work-in-space/) The Facebook video has been viewed over 332,000 times and received nearly 19,000 likes to date.  ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4214285/astronaut-tim-peake-footage-lightning-striking-earth/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4214285/astronaut-tim-peake-footage-lightning-striking-earth/"},"headline":"Astronaut Tim Peake Shares Incredible Footage of Lightning Striking Earth","datePublished":"2016-02-09T19:52:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:46:42.465Z","description":"\"Amazing how much lightning can strike our planet in a short time\"","url":"https://time.com/4214285/astronaut-tim-peake-footage-lightning-striking-earth/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Space","Technology","Storms","earth","astronauts","international space station","nature","lightning"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4214285/astronaut-tim-peake-footage-lightning-striking-earth/","name":"Astronaut Tim Peake Shares Incredible Footage of Lightning Striking Earth"}}]}] ```