New Stunning ISS Time-lapse: Earth Illuminated

“If you could see the Earth illuminated when you were in a place as dark as night, it would look to you more spendid than the Moon.”

— Galileo Galilei.

400 years ago, Galileo could only imagine what the view of Earth would be like from space. Today, we have people on board the International Space Station who see that view every day. This new beautiful time-lapse shows aurora, lightning, our Milky Way Galaxy, city lights and other sights as seen from orbit.

Below is a great still image from this video, an amazing look through the ISS’s Cupola as Earth whizzes by:

Image caption: A view out the Cupola of the ISS. Credit: NASA

For more time-lapse videos and imagery, visit NASA’s Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth website.

17 Replies to “New Stunning ISS Time-lapse: Earth Illuminated”

    1. Is there any way to flag spam (like this^^^^) or offensive content or is it solely up to the moderators to identify and remove these posts? Tub29’s post is spam.

      1. Most of the time Disqus catches things like that automatically, but didn’t this time for some reason. Thanks for bringing it to our attention, Jon!

  1. now to wait for a screensaver which can do this, real time simulated, with classical music etc 🙂

  2. Prediction time… Soon, we will hear of an experiment aboard the ISS that will change all of mankind’s future….

    1. Saw the ISS pass overhead again last night.. making 4 nights in a row! No pass is predicted for tonight, but there’s one tomorrow night for the “left coast” of the USA. I’ll be up on the mountain at my star gazing spot. Besides viewing the ISS, I’ll be counting Perseid meteors and stars! Yassss…..*

  3. yes
    Galileo Galilei never would images that we humans would achieve something like this. It would really be great if they push some money in space tourisme. To bad that it still cost so much to go in to space, sometimes I think I was born to soon.

    1. Me too, anti-ageing tech is my best hope after the lottery, but at least I remember when sputnik was launched (just) and saw the moon landings live, something some kid in a hundred years.will probably be wishing he/she could have done.

  4. Please do not call images such as these “beautiful”… they are hideous!!!
    Light pollution is ugly, ugly ugly.
    All that energy being spent to light up outer space!

    1. Yeah, it’s a bit controversial, but it can still be seen as pretty. Light pollution and wasted energy are separate problems, but it would be great to get rid of it or fix it.

  5. I am sooo jealous of the guys and girls who get to go up there. I don’t care how hard they have to work I would gladly sever a limb or two to trade places.

  6. Regarding the quote at the beginning of the video, I’ve read a fair bit about Galileo over the years, but had no idea that he said that. Always something new to learn…

  7. This is a reminder that new laws should be enforced to limit light times into the dark hours. Our Planet is beautiful with its natural light from the moon and lighting and forest fires, not the electricity from which the light distracts natural patterns of wild life. All needs night to rest, plants, animals and humans. Turn the lights off! That is one Earth Illumination that I would like to see. Try it next March on Earth hour and the difference will be huge, even though not all participate in the Earth Hour ” turn lights off event”. I am looking forward to watching the comparison side by side! ~ laura.

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