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South Pacific

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Hurricane Oma

This video was taken by the Expedition 58 crew on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken on February 20, 2019 from 16:59:00 to 17:02:59 GMT, while passing over the Coral Sea near Australia. Facing northwest, the camera catches a stunning view of Hurricane Oma. The video starts over Brisbane and travels northeast over the Coral Sea towards many islands in the Southern Pacific.


Date posted: 2019/06/07

Compiled from frames ISS058-E-23615 to ISS058-E-24094

Middle East to Australia - Jul. 2018

This time-lapse video was taken by the Expedition 56 crew on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots were taken using a 16mm fisheye camera lens on July 7, 2018 from 05:18:32 to 05:45:38 GMT, on a day pass from the Middle East to western Australia. The video quickly begins passing over the Caspian Sea and moves over Iran and Turkmenistan. The ISS continues over Afghanistan and the Himalayas begin to show on the horizon. Traveling southeast, much of India and the Indian Ocean are cloud covered. The videos ends along the red-colored, west coast of Australia.


Date posted: 2018/08/07

Compiled from frames ISS056-E-91001 to ISS056-E-94252

Malaysia to Western Australia - Jun. 2018

This time-lapse video was taken by the Expedition 56 crew on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots were taken on June 9, 2018 from 15:23:52 to 15:31:23 GMT, on a night pass from Malaysia toward Western Australia. The video begins looking southeast toward the Indonesia islands. Coastlines are traced out by urban areas with interconnected, yellow-colored lights. In contrast, there are many fishing boats in the surrounding dark waters that can be distinguished by individual green or cool-toned white lights. Lightning storms are the concentrated bright flashes are seen throughout this video. The ISS continues past the islands of Sumatra and Java. The video ends over the vast waters of the Indian Ocean while approaching the coast of Western Australia.


Date posted: 2018/06/14

Compiled from frames ISS056-E-6359 to ISS056-E-7261

United Kingdom down to Indian Ocean

This video was taken by the Expedition 53 crew on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken on September 27-28, 2017 from 23:54:41 to 00:16:12 GMT, on a pass from the northern Atlantic Ocean to the base of the Red Sea. The video starts with a view of the Aurora Borealis over the northern Atlantic Ocean. The first city lights seen are those of Ireland and England before continuing southeast over France and Switzerland. The dark area of The Alps separates France and Switzerland from Italy before continuing southeast over Greece and the island of Crete. The bright Nile River Delta begins the pass over Egypt, and the video finishes by flying down the Red Sea.


Date posted: 2017/10/03

Compiled from frames ISS053-E-51766 to ISS053-E-53010

Lightning over Asia

This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 45 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken on September 14, 2015 from 16:58:00 to 17:21:07 GMT, on a pass over eastern Asia at night. This video begins over as the ISS passes over the northern Indian Ocean and toward Sumatera. The pass continues over the South China Sea, where Taiwan and Japan are visible. The video ends when the ISS flies toward the Kamchatka Peninsula.


Date posted: 2015/11/23

Compiled from frames ISS045-E-5122 to ISS045-E-5799

Southern Hemisphere Aurora and Sunrise - Apr. 2018

This time-lapse video was taken by the Expedition 55 crew on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots were taken on April 20, 2018 from 19:39:23 to 20:03:38 GMT, on a pass from southern Africa to Australia. The video begins at night just south of the African continent and continues east across the Indian Ocean. The highlight of this video is the Aurora Australis also known as the Southern Lights. The video ends with a sunrise over Australia.


Date posted: 2018/05/14

Compiled from frames ISS055-E-27892 to ISS055-E-30801

ISS over New Zealand

This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 42 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken on August 12, 2015 from 06:10:29 to 06:16:34 GMT, on a pass over the New Zealand area during the daytime. This video begins by looking at the South Island of New Zealand as the ISS travels to the northeast and toward the Pacific Ocean. Next, the ISS passes over the North Island before ending the pass over the Pacific Ocean.


Date posted: 2015/11/23

Compiled from frames ISS042-E-170737 to ISS042-E-171461

From Night to Day to Night Again

This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 34 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken on January 3, 2013 from 11:43:46 to 15:49:31 GMT, on a pass from northwestern Australia, making two complete orbits to eastern Quebec, near the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This fast-paced video features the ISS completing two and a half orbits around the Earth, crossing the terminator line several times in the process. The video begins as the ISS is in darkness, and as the moon rises on the left side of the video, the ISS begins to pass over into daylight. Clouds mostly obscure the view during this first daylight pass with the exception of the Caucasus and Elburz Mountains just before the terminator. The ISS slips back into night as the moon again rises in the left side of the video. As the Station flies back into daylight, the ISS flies over Central America, the Caribbean Sea, and Cuba and Florida before flying over the northern Atlantic Ocean. Most of Western Europe is under cloud, and the first land that can be seen is the Alps Mountains and Croatia. The ISS then passes over the terminator line again into darkness as the moon rises in the left side of the video. As the ISS passes back over into daylight, clouds obscure most of the Earth until near the end of the video, when it passes over the Baja Peninsula and the southwestern United States.


Date posted: 2013/01/23

Compiled from frames ISS034-E-16709 to ISS034-E-18545

Tropical Storm Doksuri and Northern Australia

This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 31 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken from June 28, 2012 from 00:54:14 to 01:09:58 GMT, on a pass from the Indian Ocean, just off the coast of western Australia, to the North Pacific Ocean, east of the Philippine Sea. This video begins over northwestern Australia as the ISS travels northeast and over the sunglint on the Timor Sea and Arafura Sea. As the ISS continues northeast, Tropical Storm Doksuri and the storm's outflow can be seen. The pass ends looking over the North Pacific Ocean.


Date posted: 2012/07/20

For more information on this tropical storm, see this NASA Earth Observatory article.

Compiled from frames ISS031-E-181672 to ISS031-E-182616

Southern Ocean to New Zealand

This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 30 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken March 31, 2012 from 07:46:23 to 07:58:32 GMT, on a pass from the Southern Ocean, south of Australia, to just north of New Zealand. This video begins looking over the Southern Ocean, as the ISS travels northeast towards eastern Australia and New Zealand. The sun can be seen setting in the upper right corner of the Cupola as the pass ends over dark northern New Zealand.


Date posted: 2012/04/27

Compiled from frames ISS030-E-196054 to ISS030-E-196708

Atlantic Ocean East to New Zealand

This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 30 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken March 10, 2012 from 07:42:00 to 08:39:50 GMT, on a pass from the Atlantic Ocean, west of Guinea in western Africa, to northern New Zealand. This video was taken as the crew faced the camera back at the Soyuz and down at the Earth, and represents around half of one orbit track. The video begins as the ISS crosses over the terminator line, which is the line separating day and night time. The first bit of land seen is that of northwestern Africa, where we can see the rusty colors of the Sahara Desert, including the dunes in the sand that look like ripples. Continuing northeast, the ISS passes over the southern half of Italy, which is over heavy cloud, and then on to the Balkan Peninsula (also under cloud). There is a brief jump in the video where the crew stopped acquiring imagery for approximately 20 minutes, and then resumed over the Philippine Sea. The video ends as the ISS is traveling southeast to the east of Australia.


Date posted: 2012/03/21

Compiled from frames ISS030-E-138408 to ISS030-E-140349

Aurora Australis over the Indian Ocean

This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 30 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken January 3, 2012 from 15:01:30 to 15:08:17 GMT, on a pass from the Indian Ocean, just west of Australia, to south of Australia, west of Tasmania. The pass begins looking eastward toward southern Australia at the Aurora Australis. The crew captures the aurora just before the sun begins to come up in this short video. A few orbiting satellites pass by throughout the video as well.


Date posted: 2012/01/20

Click here to read an Earth Observatory article about the Aurora Australis.

Compiled from frames ISS030-E-36035 to ISS030-E-36220

China to Australia

This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 30 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken January 02, 2012 from 10:56:14 to 11:17:54 GMT, on a pass from northeastern China to the Coral Sea, just east of Australia. The pass begins looking back from the ISS, just northwest of Beijing. As the ISS travels southeast, it passes over Beijing and the Bohai Sea and travels toward Korea (right side of video). On the Korean Peninsula, North Korea's capital city of Pyongyang and South Korea's capital city of Seoul are brightly lit. As the pass continues, the southern half of Japan is seen along with a couple of islands in the South China Sea. The ISS continues traveling southeast over the Philippine Sea toward Australia.


Date posted: 2012/01/17

Compiled from frames ISS030-E-25359 to ISS030-E-25684

Middle East to the South Pacific Ocean

This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 29 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken October 29, 2011 from 15:24:54 to 15:52:55 GMT, on a pass from western Kazakhstan near the Caspian Sea southeast to South Australia, just north of the Great Australian Bight. The video begins just northwest of the Tibetan Plateau, where the greenish glow is from airglow. The line separating the plateau and the city lights to the right of track are the Himalaya Mountains, with cities like New Delhi, Lahore, and Islamabad standing out. Continuing down track, one can spot the brightly-lit city of Calcutta just right of track before flying over Burma and Thailand. Thailand's capital city, Bangkok, is the brightest-lit city in the video. The white lights of the city can be seen nearby the green and purple lights on the Gulf of Thailand, which are fishing boats and oil rigs. Once across the Gulf of Thailand, cities like Kuala Lumpur and Singapore stand out right of track before flying over the island of Java (long, thin island downtrack from Singapore). Near the end of the video the ISS flies southeast over Australia and lightning storms, and the Milky Way can be seen rising in the sky.


Date posted: 2011/11/07

Compiled from frames ISS029-E-36830 to ISS029-E-37387

Eastern Europe to Southeastern Asia at Night

This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 29 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken October 29, 2011 from 16:56:46 to 17:28:21 GMT, on a pass beginning over central Ukraine to just south of Australia, over the Great Australian Bight. This video immediately starts by looking southeast toward the Black Sea, then continues over the Caspian Sea and to the Mideast. The India-Pakistan border stands out as the snaking orange line left of track. The bright lights nearby the borderline are those of Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and main seaport. The pass continues down the western half of India, with lightning storms shooting off in the southwestern half of the peninsula. The lights of Sri Lanka can be seen through the clouds directly downtrack of India before passing into the Indian Ocean. Finally, the pass ends just west of Australia, with the lights of Perth seen on the coastline. The Aurora Australis can be seen in the distance as the video ends.


Date posted: 2011/11/01

Compiled from frames ISS029-E-34145 to ISS029-E-34717

Islands in the Philippine Sea at Night

This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 29 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken October 20, 2011 from 17:48:40 to 18:05:17 GMT, on a descending pass from eastern China to western New Guinea, and rounds out to an ascending pass just as the video ends north of Australia. As the pass begins southeastward towards the South China Sea, the first noticably-lit area is that of Hong Kong and Macau. The island of Taiwan can also be easily seen left of track. The ISS passes over the South China Sea towards the Philippines, which have some cloud cover and storms. Finally, the pass ends just north of Australia, where the Yorke Peninsula can be seen as a dark, rusty color protruding into the water.


Date posted: 2011/11/01

Compiled from frames ISS029-E-33152 to ISS029-E-33428

Halfway around the World

This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 29 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken October 8, 2011 from 20:53:10 to 21:24:58 GMT, on a long pass from the mid-Atlantic between South America and Africa ascending to the Balkan Peninsula, and rounding out on a descending pass southwest towards the Solomon Islands. The camera is west-looking, therefore the setting sun in the west is the first image seen throughout this sequence. The pass continues over the Sahara Desert in northern Africa, before hitting the Mediterranean Sea and the Balkan Peninsula. Finally, the ISS flies over Russia and Kazakhstan and begins the descending pass towards the southern Pacific Ocean. The faint lights from the Aurora Borealis can be seen near the end of the video.


Date posted: 2011/10/14

Compiled from frames ISS029-E-22493 to ISS029-E-23129

Aurora Australis South of Australia

Video of the Aurora Australis taken by the crew of Expedition 28 on board the International Space Station. This sequence of shots was taken September 11, 2011 from 13:45:06 to 14:01:51 GMT, from a descending pass near eastern Australia, rounding about to an ascending pass to the east of New Zealand.


Date posted: 2011/09/22

Compiled from frames ISS028-E-47008 to ISS028-E-47329

Pass over Eastern Asia to Philippine Sea and Guam

This pass begins over Mongolia, looking out west towards the Pacific Ocean, China, and Japan. As the video progresses, you can see major cities along the coast and the Japanese islands on the Philippine Sea. The island of Guam can be seen further down the pass into the Philippine Sea, and the pass ends just to the east of New Zealand. A lightning storm can be seen as light pulses near the end of the video.


Date posted: 2011/09/22

Compiled from frames ISS028-E-30770 to ISS028-E-31149