ISS Time-Lapse VIDEO Shows 'Best View In The Solar System'

The spectacular high-resolution photos and video that have been beamed down from the International Space Station (ISS) in recent months have become an internet staple.

And it's not just NASA's doing. The videos go straight to the public domain, where creative minds like MIT student and photographer Alex Rivest are free to tweak and recombine them.

Rivest, who gave us "The Stars as Viewed from the International Space Station," in March, used a similar approach to create his newest video, which he calls "The Best View in the Solar System."

The earlier piece focused on stars. This one casts an eye mostly at the Earth.

From the sparse clouds that frame the Persian Gulf to the Himalayas' icy footprint, you can see much of our world through the ISS viewing window. On the Vimeo page for the piece, which went up Aprile 12, Rivest wrote,

"Exactly 51 years ago today, on April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit earth. Today, man-kind has the International Space Station, which has continually been inhabited by humans since the November 2, 2000.

These lucky explorers and scientists clearly have the best view in the solar system."

Comments

[Iatros78]

04:56 PM on 04/19/2012

Fantastic! Thank you, NASA.

[Jaime01]

10:51 AM on 04/18/2012

Kind of sad that over 40 years since we went to the moon and all we have to get excited about are low earth orbits.

[Bunny Tickle Britches]

09:59 AM on 04/18/2012

Science = Cool.

[opantxm]

11:32 AM on 04/18/2012

Religion = bad

[TooLooze]

09:24 AM on 04/18/2012

I looked for churches, synagogues, mosques and covens, but all I saw was the tiny bit of rock where we all live. I looked for white folks, black people, Asians, native Americans, etc. but only saw a beautiful but insignificant dot in the universe(s) where we all have to live together.

Don't we all want what's best for each other? Levon Helm said it much better than I ever could.

[barakagirl]

09:01 AM on 04/18/2012

It's a bit misleading to say it's the best view of the solar system but nonetheless this is great.

[jefferycampbell]

08:55 AM on 04/18/2012

Isn't is lovely and serene from a distance.....

[Crisdean Wulver]

08:55 AM on 04/18/2012

Beautiful!

Best viewed in full screen.

[uniqumm]

11:46 PM on 04/17/2012

And a lovely view it is, indeed!

My only regret is that it can't be from a greater distance, ....]sigh[.

I've always wondered what camera they use. This is within the realm of the 2D they have on board, but the night shots may be a stretch for it. It could be something mounted externally. Anyone know?

[ProudToBeVeryLiberal]

12:03 AM on 04/18/2012

The ISS has custom HD streaming cameras built by Canadian company Urthecast.

urthecast.com for more information.

[uniqumm]

12:33 AM on 04/18/2012

Thanks, again!

[canadaloki]

09:59 AM on 04/18/2012

Fanned for your micro-bio. Cheers.

[PleaseNoPolitics]

06:34 PM on 04/17/2012

There's Waldo! ! !

[ProudToBeVeryLiberal]

06:23 PM on 04/17/2012

Get the unedited high-definition raw footage directly from NASA:

http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/Videos/CrewEarthObservationsVideos/

[uniqumm]

11:50 PM on 04/17/2012

Thank you!