Holiday calendar: London and Paris light up the night

Paris earns its reputation as the "City of Light" in this night view from the International Space Station — but off to the left, London gets its share of the orbital spotlight as well. "We now have incredible night passes over Europe," NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio reported as he shared this picture via Twitter on Monday. "City lights and stars make beautiful show."

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FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

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FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

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FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

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The space station's Canadian-built robotic arm takes center stage — so much so that it sparked a humorous exchange on Twitter. "Canada, your arm is blocking the English Channel!" British designer-astronomer Matthias Carter tweeted. "Sorry, eh," the Canadian Space Agency responded. On the far horizon, you can see the faint green airglow of Earth's atmosphere. This glittering picture is part of the Cosmic Log Space Advent Calendar, which features daily views of Earth from space through Christmas. For more views from the space station, follow @NASA_Astronauts on Twitter, go through the Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth, visit the NASA Human Spaceflight gallery or browse through the NASA2Explore Flickr gallery. And for more holiday goodies from space, take a look at The Atlantic's Hubble Advent Calendar, Zooniverse's Advent calendar and the Galileo's Pendulum Science Advent Calendar.

Previously on the Space Advent Calendar:

• Day 9: 'Starry Night' at sea
• Day 8: Mount Etna makes its mark
• Day 7: Staring down into Mount Vesuvius
• Day 6: Grand Canyon, seen and unseen
• Day 5: NASA salutes Nelson Mandela
• Day 4: Twin volcanoes act up in the Pacific
• Day 3: Syria's medieval marvel marred
• Day 2: Where the rain in Spain goes
• Day 1: Farewell, Earth ... Hello, Mars!
• 2012 Cosmic Log Space Advent Calendar

Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the NBC News Science Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with NBCNews.com's stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.