Many wonders are visible when flying over the Earth at night, especially if you are an astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS)! Passing below are white clouds, orange city lights, lightning flashes in thunderstorms, and dark blue seas. On the horizon is the golden haze of Earth’s thin atmosphere, frequently decorated by dancing auroras as the video progresses. The green parts of auroras typically remain below the space station, but the station flies right through the red and purple auroral peaks. You’ll also see solar panels of the ISS around the frame edges. The wave of approaching brightness at the end of each sequence is just the dawn of the sunlit half of Earth, a dawn that occurs every 90 minutes, as the ISS travels at 5 miles per second to keep from crashing into the earth.




Video Credit: Gateway to Astronaut Photography, NASA


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11 Responses to “Flying Over the Earth at Night”

  1. This is a time lapse video. The International Space Station flew over many countries during this video, but we don’t have a specific list.

  2. wendysbutler says:

    what contery is the satalite flying over?

  3. Those flashes are lightning from thunderstorms.

  4. wendysbutler says:

    what was all the flashes in the clouds?

  5. jleto8910 says:

    really cool!

  6. Yes and yes. It’s areas that give off light, so it could be cities, fires, etc.

  7. birgitemramsey says:

    Are the glowing things cities? Or volcanoes?

  8. Lorelei Grecian says:

    Oh thanks. I’m silly not to know that 🙁 😛

  9. Lorelei Grecian says:

    Is that greenish line around the earth the earths atmosphere or whatever that is?

  10. Chana Keefer says:

    The kids and I were totally wow’d by this! Awesome!