European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Alexander Gerst recently shared a series of incredible images of Typhoon Trami from the International Space Station, where he is currently serving as Station Commander for Expedition 57.

Trami was originally a category 5 super typhoon but has since weakened to a category 3 hurricane with sustained wind speeds of approximately 195 km/h (121 mph) as it prepares to make landfall in the Ryuku islands (southwest) of Japan this Friday.

According to CNN, ‘Trami comes on the heels of Super Typhoon Mangkhut, which cut a swath of destruction through northern Luzon in the Philippines less than two weeks ago.’

Check out the incredible images of Trami below which Gerst described, ‘as if somebody pulled the planet’s gigantic plug.’