The Flashing Eye of a Cyclone from Space

I've posted a lot of images of cyclones from space... but I have never seen anything like this! That is the view of the tropical cyclone Bansi, which has been blowing in the Indian Ocean, a few hundred kilometers east of the island of Mauritius, which is itself east of Madagascar. It looks like the storm is powering up some sort of weapon! The photo was taken by astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti when the space station was still well to the side of the cyclone. What you're actually seeing is a fla...