Nothing makes me feel more connected to the rest of the human race than seeing the Earth from space at night.

National borders vanish, and rivers of light unite our towns and cities into a single glowing tapestry.

Just look at this incredible view of Europe, sparkling with artificial light:

Anton Balazh/Shutterstock

Er, wait a minute.

If you've seen enough images of Earth from space at night, or you care to look closely enough, this image looks... funny.

And yet it has been shared all over the internet as a legitimate NASA photograph.

Compare it to this photograph of the Iberian Peninsula, taken by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station in July 2014:

NASA

As it turns out, the first — and arguably more breathtaking — image is actually a computer rendering created by Russian graphic artist Anton Balazh (Антон Балаж).

Scroll to see more of Balazh's mind-boggling views of Earth and learn how he pulled them off.