--- description: From cities at night to Auroras and sunrises, the surface of the earth is as beautiful as you might imagine title: Watch Stunning Timelapse Imagery of Earth's Surface From Space image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23a227e6aad65fd5/698777f006f2c1e5f83332ec/4k-timelapse-01.png?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Space](/tag/space/) ## Space Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch Stunning Timelapse Imagery of Earth's Surface From the International Space Station by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 2, 2015 10:03 PM CUT  ESA by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 2, 2015 10:03 PM CUT In the six months astronaut Alexander Gerst spent at the International Space Station, he captured an incredible compendium of images of Earth in ultra high definition. The sunrises, clouds, stars, oceans, the Milky Way, and the fragile web of cities lighted at night are collected here in a series of time-lapses. And perhaps because Gerst is a native of techno-loving Germany, the spectacular video is accompanied by a tasteful soundtrack of spacey house music. Gerst ended his six-month Blue Dot mission in November. ### See the Most Beautiful Space Photos of 2014  NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array's first picture of the sun taken in high-energy X-rays released on Dec. 22, 2014. JPL-Caltech/GSFC/NASA  An infrared image of a small portion of the Monkey Head Nebula captured by the Hubble telescope released on March 17, 2014. NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team  NGC 4258 is a spiral galaxy well known to astronomers for having two so-called anomalous arms that glow in X-ray, optical and radio light. Chandra X-ray Observatory/CXC/Caltech/NASA  Eta Carinae is one of the most luminous known star systems in our galaxy seen here in this photo released on Aug. 26, 2014. JPL-Caltech/NASA  A reprocessed picture shows off the amazing colors of Europa, a mysterious ice-covered moon of Jupiter, as they have never been seen before released on Nov. 21, 2014. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute  Astronaut Reid Wiseman tweeted this photo on June 1, 2014 from the International Space Station "A simple toy from my childhood makes for a cool picture in space." Reid Wiseman—NASA  This image of Saturn's rings was taken by a camera on the Cassini spacecraft released on Jan. 21, 2014. JPL-Caltech/NASA/EPA  A long exposure of the European Space Agency's Optical Ground Station at the La Teide Observatory on the Canary Islands, Spain released on April 27, 2014. EPA  An aurora near Australia seen from the International Space Station released on July 15, 2014. NASA  This close-up of cosmic clouds and stellar winds features LL Orionis interacting with the Orion Nebula flow. NASA/Sipa  The Eagle Nebula also known as as Messier 16 or M16, and the 'Pillars of Creation' in the constellation Serpens in May 2014. Adam Block—Mount Lemmon Skycenter  The Russell Crater dunes seen on Mars in this photo released on Feb. 5, 2014. JPL/University of Arizona/NASA  Saturn taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Nov. 23, 2013 and released for the first time on Feb. 3, 2014. NASA/JPL/Caltech/Reuters  This vista of the Endeavour Crater rim taken by Opportunity Rover combines several exposures taken by the rover's panoramic camera on April 18, 2014 and was released on May 19, 2014. JPL-Caltech/Cornell University/NASA  Astronaut Alexander Gerst ‏tweeted this photo on July 6, 2014 from the International Space Station "Harsh land. Windswept valleys in northern #Africa / Hartes Land" Alexander Gerst—NASA  The moon over northeast Greenland in March 2014. Michael Studinger—NASA  A crescent moon rises over the cusp of the Earth's atmosphere in this picture by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata onboard the International Space Station on Feb. 1, 2014. NASA/Reuters  An optical image, from the Digitized Sky Survey of the Flame Nebula released on May 7, 2014. DDS/NASA  New Hubble infrared view of the Tarantula Nebula released on Jan. 9, 2014. NASA, ESA, E. Sabbi (STScI)—NASA, ESA, E. Sabbi (STScI)  The sun emits a significant solar flare on Dec. 19, 2014 as seen from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, SDO/NASA  Astronaut Reid Wiseman tweeted this photo from the International Space Station on July 3, 2014 "Hurricane #Arthur has grown an eye since we last met." Reid Wiseman—NASA  The Elephant's Trunk Nebula, also known as IC 1396 on April 14, 2014. Eric Coles  The Holuhraun lava field as seen with infrared imaging captured by the Operational Land Imager on Sept. 6, 2014, NASA  Mars is seen in an image taken by the ISRO Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) spacecraft released on Sept. 30, 2014. ISRO/AFP/Getty Images  The Russian Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-13M space ship carrying the Expedition 40 crew to the International Space Station launches from the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on May 29, 2014. Dmitry Lovetsky—AP  Using the CIVA camera on Rosetta’s Philae lander the spacecraft snapped a ‘selfie’ with a passing comet in this photo released on Oct. 14, 2014. Rosetta/Philae/CIVA/ESA  Saturn was captured by the Cassini spacecraft cameras in this image released on March 17, 2014. JPL-Caltech/NASA  A composite of separate exposures taken in 2003 to 2012 with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3 of the evolving universe is shown in this image released on June 3, 2014. NASA/Reuters  Astronaut Reid Wiseman tweeted this photo from the International Space Station on July 1, 2014 "Here is a #TodaySunrise from space for @MLauer" Reid Wiseman—NASA ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3652639/international-space-station-timelapse/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3652639/international-space-station-timelapse/"},"headline":"Watch Stunning Timelapse Imagery of Earth's Surface From the International Space Station","datePublished":"2015-01-02T22:03:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:06:26.864Z","description":"From cities at night to Auroras and sunrises, the surface of the earth is as beautiful as you might imagine","url":"https://time.com/3652639/international-space-station-timelapse/","keywords":["Space","space travel"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23a227e6aad65fd5/698777f006f2c1e5f83332ec/4k-timelapse-01.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23a227e6aad65fd5/698777f006f2c1e5f83332ec/4k-timelapse-01.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Alexander Gerst's 4k timelapse of the earth","caption":"Alexander Gerst's 4k timelapse of the earth","creditText":"ESA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3652639/international-space-station-timelapse/","name":"Watch Stunning Timelapse Imagery of Earth's Surface From the International Space Station"}}]}] ```