NASA astronaut Kate Rubins captured this view of Lake Van in Turkey in 2016 from the ISS.
NASA / Kate Rubins
There can only be one. The NASA Tournament Earth Competition pitted 32 astronaut photos of the Earth against each other in a series of brackets in March madness. Space fans voted for their favorites, and the winner was crowned: a beautiful, swirling view of Lake Van in Turkey.
After more than 930,000 votes cast during five rounds, the image taken by astronaut Kate Rubins of the International Space Station in 2016 stood out among the rest. Lake Van is one of the largest alkaline lakes in the world, and it has an almost mystical appearance in the image.
“Lake Van is an endoreic lake – it has no outlet, so the water disappears by evaporation – with a pH of 10 and high salinity,” NASA said in a statement when the image was originally released. The space agency described the swirling blue areas as “turbidity.”
If it was March Madness, the photo would be considered an underdog winner. It was originally put in a number 8 seed in the “Tranquility” bracket, a reference to a module on the ISS.
It was a tough competition. Lake Van went head-to-head with the other finalist, a beautiful composite image of stars in motion showing star trails captured from the ISS in minutes.
Every astronaut image in the competition was worthy, but there was just something about the sublime twists and turns of Lake Van that captured the hearts of voters. After all, we are a water planet.
Follow CNET’s 2021 space calendar to stay up to date with all the latest space news this year. You can even add it to your own Google Calendar.