In order to see this embed, you must give consent to Social Media cookies. Open my cookie preferences. Commands respect even from #space: we just flew over typhoon #Maysak. pic.twitter.com/w86GnxmaO2 — Samantha Cristoforetti (@AstroSamantha) March 31, 2015

Gallery: Enormous 160mph 'super typhoon' pictured from ISS Gallery Gallery: Enormous 160mph 'super typhoon' pictured from ISS + 4

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Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti has published five incredible images of Super Typhoon Maysak from the International Space Station (ISS). Cristoforetti, who is aboard ISS representing the European Space Agency, said the 160mph storm "commands respect" even from space -- and looking at these images it's hard to disagree.


With the Western and Central Pacific storm still hurtling towards the Philippines having already blasted tiny islands across Micronesia, resulting in four deaths, Cristoforetti posted the haunting pictures to Twitter from her platform roughly 250 miles above the Earth. The photos captured both the scale of the massive storm and the other-worldly depth of its eye. The typhoon’s arrival marks the first time that two category 3 or stronger storms of its type have developed before 1 April.

The good news is that the US Navy Joint Typhoon Warning Centre believes Maysak will weaken before it hits the Philippine island of Luzon on Sunday, arriving with winds of "just" 100mph. By comparison the devastating 2013 Super Typhoon Haiyan hit the central Philippines Visayas region with wind speeds above 230mph, killing more than 7,300 people.

Some meteorologists believe that currently mild ocean temperatures -- typically linked to an El Niño event -- are leading to the unusually unpredictable start to the typhoon season in the Western Pacific. But weather authorities are divided on how intense they expect El Niño to be this year. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts a "50 to 60 percent" chance of the effect being felt in the northern hemisphere, which is good for western Americas regions hoping to avoid hurricanes, but potentially very troubling for drought-stricken US states in dire need of sustained rain.

While Cristoforetti’s pictures are dramatic, typhoons themselves are hardly unusual; the Philippines is affected by around 20 typhoons every year. It is also not the first time that such a storm has been photographed from the ISS. But it is a powerful reminder of how alien Earth can appear from just 250 miles above the surface.