NASA has released a spectacular video, recorded by the Expedition 30 crew aboard the International Space Station, that gives us Earth-bound residents a view of Earth unlike any other.
The video highlights man-made, astronomical, and meteorological features in a series of time-lapse photographs set to Howard Blake's other-worldly song "Walking in the Air."
The video includes city lights over Europe and the U.S., colorful views of both the Aurora Borealis and the Aurora Australis, stars over the southern U.S., a setting moon, and a blue comet (Lovejoy). From a weather perspective, there are some great shots of cloud formations from a different perspective than the typical satellite image, along with the sparkling nighttime thunderstorms from outer space.
The video would make a great recruiting tool for astronauts!
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?collection_id=14483&media_id=141042671&module=homepage
The other feature is how lit up Europe, the U.S. and India and China are now. That is incredible - the spread of electricity.