Astronaut’s image of ‘super typhoon’ from 250 miles above Earth shows just how terrifying it is

A jaw-dropping photo taken with an iPhone 250 miles above Earth has captured the incredible sight of a super typhoon over the Pacific Ocean.

The image was taken by Nasa astronaut Anil Menon while aboard the International Space Station (ISS),offering a stunning bird’s-eye view of the colossal storm system churning across the ocean below.

The picture,which was taken on August 2,reveals a tightly wound spiral of towering cloud bands wrapped around a clearly defined eye as the cyclone made its way across the western Pacific.

While the dramatic photo looked like it had been photographed using specialist camera equipment,it was actually taken on an iPhone – a capability made possible after Nasa recently began allowing astronauts to carry personal smartphones on missions.

Sharing the image,Menon wrote: ‘The Pacific Ocean this morning from the cupola with an iPhone.’

The super typhoon as seen from space – and it’s breathtaking (Picture: Anil Menon/Cover Images)

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Start your day informed with Metro's News Updates newsletter or get Breaking News alerts the moment it happens.Viewed from orbit,the immense scale of the weather system becomes clear,with the storm dominating hundreds of miles of open ocean in a single frame.He didn’t identify the storm by name,but Menon’s image is believed to have captured Super Typhoon Dolphin,which rapidly strengthened over exceptionally warm waters before moving towards Japan earlier this week.A tree submerged in a river after Typhoon Dolphin hit China’s Zhejiang province (Picture: AP)China has evacuated more than 1,000,000 from their homes after the typhoon brought heavy rain and strong winds,triggering a red alert.Winds hit 94mph when it hit the Zhejiang province on Sunday.The photograph was taken from the ISS’s Cupola – a seven-window observation module widely regarded as offering astronauts the best views of Earth.