Spectacular footage of New Zealand from above, shot earlier this week by a camera aboard the International Space Station (ISS), is stunning Kiwis.
The ISS flew directly over the North Island on Sunday afternoon. While it wasn't visible to us on the ground thanks to the bright summer sun, it could see us perfectly - taking two minutes to travel from the skies over Cape Reinga in the north to Mahia Peninsula, home to New Zealand's first space launch pad.
Popular Twitter and YouTube account ISS Above shared the footage on Wednesday, calling it "special".
Many Kiwis joked it was so clear, they could see their house - or themselves.
"Seed some clouds, please," one person clearly tired of the scorching heat suggested. While a few were scattered over Northland and Coromandel, the rest of the North Island had hardly any.
The footage was presumably taken from NASA's live feed from a camera mounted on the outside of the ISS.
The ISS, just over 400km up, circles the Earth every 90 minutes. While it passes overhead frequently, it's not always visible thanks to the sun, and at night it's often too low in the sky to be easily spotted. The January 2 flyover was at an angle of 81 degrees, as seen from Auckland - almost right overhead.
The next chance Kiwis will have to see it will be Wednesday night just after 9:30pm, but it will be incredibly low in the sky, so probably out of sight for anyone in a city.
"Good" chances to see the $165 billion ship happen once in each location about every six weeks, experts say.
The next opportunity in the North Island will be on January 23 at 5:20am.
