Flying in Space Over Earth
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Science educator James Drake created this time-lapse video taken from the front of the International Space Station as it orbits at an altitude of 220 miles above our planet. The movie begins over the Pacific Ocean and continues over North and South America before entering daylight near Antarctica.
From the video description, there are many visible cities, countries and landmarks. In order, the video features Vancouver Island, Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Fransisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, multiple cities in Texas, New Mexico and Mexico.
Also visible in the movie: The Yucatan Peninsula, lightning over the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and the Amazon river. Earths ionosphere and some stars can be seen in the video too!
Keep in mind a few things: First, this video is comprised almost entirely from shots of Earth at night, hence all the orange “splotches” of city lights on the surface. Secondly, the ISS takes about 90 minutes to orbit Earth.
The raw data for the video was downloaded from: The Gateway To Astronaut Photography of Earth, and assembled with Virtualdub.
If you’d like to see more of Drake’s work, visit his website at: http://infinity-imagined.tumblr.com/
Source:YouTube
Ray Sanders is a Sci-Fi geek, astronomer and blogger. Currently researching variable stars at Arizona State University, he writes for Universe Today, The Planetary Society blog, and his own blog, Dear Astronomer
2012-12-04 08:06:40
Source: http://www.dearastronomer.com/2011/09/19/flying-in-space-over-earth/
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