Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti captures haunting images from space

Sam Cristoforetti clearly loves her job.

The engineer became the first Italian woman to travel to space in November 2014 when she blasted off aboard the Soyuz shuttle and soon became a resident on the International Space Station. She started snapping gorgeous pictures from her new temporary home almost immediately, sharing them prolifically on Twitter.

Cristoforetti's delightful and inquisitive personality shines through in the messages she shares alongside the photos. She's spotted "blue jewels" in Argentina and a "black sea sprinkled with stars," but the astronaut appears to be most fascinated by the wild cloud formations she captures from high above.

She shared one of her spookiest images last month when she captured the illuminated eye of a massive cyclone at night. Check out that great picture and more in the gallery above.