We often look up at the sky at night and wonder at the stars, but from space Earth has its own impressive light show.

These pictures taken by an astronaut on the International Space Station show London, Paris lit up at night, the southern Mediterranean including Ibiza and Majorca and the light of towns snaking down the river Nile from Cairo.

One shot even captures the green northern lights spread out across the top of the earth above Britain.

Aurora Borealis in the distance on this beautiful night over Europe. The Strait of Dover is clear as is Paris, the City of Lights, though there is a little fog over the western part of England and London.

Each spectacular picture shows the cities as hubs, blazing away with the power of millions of watts of electricity all at once.

Doug Wheelock, currently orbiting the earth on the ISS took the series of pictures over the last 12 days.

He said: 'You can see the Aurora Borealis in the distance on this beautiful night over Europe. The Strait of Dover is pretty clear as is Paris, the City of Lights, though there is a little fog over the western part of England and London.

'Here is Europe on a cool autumn night. We can see the Mediterranean Riviera and beautiful mosaic along the coastline from Valencia, Spain to Livorno, Italy and all the magical places in between.   

'And here we have a night view of the River Nile winding up through the Egyptian desert toward the Mediterranean Sea, and Cairo in the river delta.  

Clear outline: The Florida peninsula and the southeastern U.S. on a clear autumn night, with moonlight over the water and the haze of the inner atmosphere visible

Stark contrast: The dark desolate lifeless desert of northern Africa and the Nile River teeming with life along its shores, and the Mediterranean beyond

Nasa Shuttle commander Douglas H. Wheelock

He continued: 'There is such a stark contrast between the dark desolate lifeless desert of northern Africa and the Nile River teeming with life along its shores. In the distance lies the eastern Mediterranean on a beautiful autumn evening.'   

He added: 'It is incredible to see the lights of the cities and small towns against the backdrop of deep space. I am going to miss this view of our wonderful world.'

The images are a stark illustration of our incredible energy usage, particularly in the cities where lights are left on in office blocks for 24 hours and every light on every street blazes away all night.

However the latest official figures show that energy consumption per household has actually fallen from the equivalent of two tonnes of oil per household in 1980 to 1.6 tonnes last year.

Looks like there's a party going on: The Mediterranean Riviera, along the coastline from Valencia, Spain, to Livorno, Italy, and the Balearic Islands

The ancient gateway city of Istanbul, in Turkey is the only city in the world to span two continents, linking the Black Sea to the north and the Sea of Marmara to the south

The approaching dawn moves across the horizon revealing the Aurora Borealis, or northern polar lights

Morning breaks over the majestic Andes mountain range in South America, although astronaut Doug Wheelock was uncertain what peak this is