Commander Hadfield is a space veteran, with two space shuttle missions under his belt, and is now the commander of the ISS – the first time his country has been at the helm of the station.

But it’s as an inveterate snapper that he’s attracted the attention of the online world. On the same day as he posted the photo of Antwerp by Night, he also sent back to earth photos of Helsinki and Tallinn; the mouth of the Mediterranean; the “pillowy farms … tidily etched in snow” of Eastern Europe; Palma de Mallorca; Rotterdam by Night (not nearly as sparkly as Antwerp, frankly); and the heel and toe of the boot of Italy.

There’s plenty of opportunity: the ISS orbits the Earth 15.7 times a day (about every 90 minutes), from a distance of about 400 kilometres. But of course the Earth is spinning at the same time, so every time Cmdr Hadfield passes over, he’s passing over by a different path in relation to the ground.

He’s been up there for 120 days and has posted no fewer than 4,468 images to Twitter, an average of more than 36 a day. He has more than 500,000 followers, and you can join them by following @Cmdr_Hadfield. There’s also a Tumblr page, which collects the photos all in one place (though it doesn’t update 36 times a day).

www.colchrishadfield.tumblr.com