This aerial view of the snow-covered peaks of the Himalayan Mountains as seen from the International Space Station was snapped by an astronaut pointing his 35mm camera out an ISS window at an altitude of 230 miles above Earth.

The view is south-eastward across the southern Tibetan plateau, to the Dhaulagiri range of the Himalayas in central Nepal. The southern Tibetan plateau is In the foreground. The upper reaches of the 1,500-mile-long Brahmaputra River are within the broad, 17,000-ft-high valley in the foreground. The river eventually enters the Indian Ocean near Calcutta.

Beyond the plateau is 26,794 ft.-high Dhaulagiri, known locally as White Mountain, said to be the seventh-highest mountain on Earth. Dhaulagiri was discovered in the early 19th century Dhaulagiri and for 30 years was thought to be the highest mountain in the world. It was climbed first in 1960. Dhaulagiri is a popular destination for climbers and trekkers.

This corner of the world is home to hundreds of species of rare animals and plants, including the snow leopard and blue Tibetan sheep.

The Himalayas were pushed up 70 million years ago by tectonic motion in Earth's crust -- the Indian plate collided with the Eurasian plate. Today, the Himalayas still are rising a few millimetres per year as a result of that collision.

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