Commander Hadfield's best shots of Earth from the ISS

As International Space Station (ISS) Commander Chris Hadfield steps down, we have gathered together some of our favourite pictures that the astronaut took of our planet from space.

Although it is not safe for any one person to remain in space for too long, it's with a sad sniffle that we see Canadian-born Commander Chris Hadfield hand over his role on the ISS. The station commander rapidly became a beloved figure to us Earthbound folks, sharing freely his life aboard the station via a series of informative — and engaging — YouTube videos and Reddit Ask me Anything sessions.

We also very much enjoyed opening his Twitter feed every day, not only for regular updates on the ISS, but for the beautiful pictures he's taken of the Earth, giving us a view of geological phenomena and human habitation rarely glimpsed — as well as a small sense of a phenomenon usually only experienced by astronauts. Called the "overview effect", it is a feeling of wonder, awe and love experienced by astronauts when viewing the Earth from space.

Hadfield has already handed command over to his successor, Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov, and is due to return to Earth.

If you want to browse all of former Commander Hadfield's space photos, you can check them out on his Twitter feed and his Tumblr page. We've collected a few of our favourites in the gallery below.

The sun, seen without the filter of the Earth's atmosphere.

The beautiful Canadian Rockies.

The coast of Florida, US, at dawn beyond the ISS.

A swirling storm builds just off the Irish coast.

Seen from space, the slow crawl of glacial flow becomes more visible.

The clear demarcation of the US-Mexico border. Mexico is on the left.

Commander Hadfield called this: "A view to put the mind at ease."

The south of UK.

Cities in north-central England at night, illuminated by lights.

The moon sets, a sight seen 16 times a day on the ISS. Somehow, it never gets old.

The starkness of the Saudi Arabian desert.

Long-dead volcanoes left their pocked and bubbled mark on Saudi Arabia.

Clouds clustered around a high mountain top.

Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

Disturbances in the clouds over the Pacific ocean.

Dubai at night, with Palm Jumeirah clearly outlined just off the coast.

The natural Richat Structure rock formation in the Mauritanian Sahara.

The Galapagos Islands shimmering in the sunlight.

Sand and wind erosion expose striations in the Saharan bedrock.

Icy swirls in the frozen seas off the northern coast of Japan.

An atoll in the waters around Indonesia. From space, it looks a bit like a snail.

Sunlight turning a system of rivers into what looks like liquid silver.

Sydney and its suburbs stretching out into the night.

The Australian outback, Commander Hadfield said, is like a series of cave paintings.

More of the outback. This time, stone formations pushing up through the desert.

Smoke from the 2013 January bushfires as seen from space, showing the extent of their effect on our country.

The smoke from just one fire during the 2013 January bushfires.

A dried-up lake in the middle of the outback, white with salt.

Commander Hadfield said that the Australian outback "looks like somebody spilled something on it". Our money's on Pro Hart.

The active Mount Taranaki volcano in New Zealand looks like a perfect circle.