Seriously, I don’t want to put your entire week on a downhill trajectory, but in terms of the sheer scope of this video – it’s probably the best thing you’ll see on the internet all week.
Edited by Michael König, and compiled using images from NASA, this time lapse fly-over of the Earth provides five minutes of childlike amazement.
The lime lapse sequences are courtesy of astronauts aboard the International Space Station, more specifically the crew of expeditions 28 & 29 operating from August to October 2011. The photographs were apparently taken with a special “low-light 4K-camera,” providing us with the stunning images of Earth as they fly past Auroras and over cities filled with light.
There are quite a few awesome elements to this video, but in my opinion, it really doesn’t get much better than the incredible images of thunderstorms rippling throughout the clouds as the cameras pass. Truly amazing:
Like I mentioned before, the images are courtesy of NASA – more specifically the Gateway to Astronaut Photography. That’s a program that hosts the most complete internet collection of pictures of the Earth from space. New photos are added to the database daily, and according to the site, it contains over 1.1 million views of the Earth (675K from the ISS).
If you want to track the locations in the video, here’s a list provided by König of the various places, in order, from which he culled images:
1. Aurora Borealis Pass over the United States at Night
2. Aurora Borealis and eastern United States at Night
3. Aurora Australis from Madagascar to southwest of Australia
4. Aurora Australis south of Australia
5. Northwest coast of United States to Central South America at Night
6. Aurora Australis from the Southern to the Northern Pacific Ocean
7. Halfway around the World
8. Night Pass over Central Africa and the Middle East
9. Evening Pass over the Sahara Desert and the Middle East
10. Pass over Canada and Central United States at Night
11. Pass over Southern California to Hudson Bay
12. Islands in the Philippine Sea at Night
13. Pass over Eastern Asia to Philippine Sea and Guam
14. Views of the Mideast at Night
15. Night Pass over Mediterranean Sea
16. Aurora Borealis and the United States at Night
17. Aurora Australis over Indian Ocean
18. Eastern Europe to Southeastern Asia at Night
Can you spot any distinguishable features of Earth? What do you think of the time lapse images in general? Let us know in the comments.
