Typhoon Noru might look pretty intimidating from down here on Earth, but we can confirm it looks even more impressive from 250 miles up.
This is after several astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS) shared photographs of the most powerful storm on the planet gathering speed as it continues to spin across the Pacific Ocean this week.
The category 5 super typhoon, which is generating winds with speeds of 160mph, is moving ever closer to Japan and is currently expected to make landfall early on Saturday morning.
The tropical cyclone, which could also move further north towards South Korea and China, was last located 500 miles east of the Kadena Air Base in Okinawa island as Japan makes preparations for a “destructive” weekend.
Meteorologists at the Weather channel said: “Damaging winds, storm-surge flooding and rainfall flooding all appear to be likely impacts in at least some part of southern Japan.”
“There is the chance that Noru could undergo another period of rapid intensification before approaching southern Japan later this week as sea-surface temperatures are plenty warm.”
As people on the ground prepare for the fallout, including large ocean swells along the coastline, astronauts on the ISS have been tracking Noru’s movement from space.
Russian cosmonaut Sergey Ryazansky was the first to post a picture, followed by NASA astronaut Jack Fischer and then Randy Bresnik.
And to say it looks terrifying is a bit of an understatement.
Bresnik said: “Amazing the size of this weather phenomenon, you can almost sense it’s power from 250 miles above.”
Fischer said: “When Mother Nature gets to spinning, it can be an awesome but scary sight. Looks like super Typhoon Noru is gaining momentum.”
Noru has been classified as a tropical cyclone for 12 days since first becoming a tropical depression on 20 July.