Zone on the longest continuous timelapse made in space

After a Thanksgiving holiday, hopefully, with food and leftovers, relax with a long view of the ever-changing surface of the Earth. Alexander Gerst, a German astronaut from the European Space Agency, recorded the longest continuous timelapse of the Earth from space, made from images taken aboard the International Space Station. In just 15 minutes, viewers are hurting the Earth as it changes from day to night and sight spots around the world.

The timelapse is composed of more than 21,000 images taken by Gerst from the space station in a few hours on October 6th. It takes only 90 minutes to the ISS to complete a complete orbit around the Earth and the video timelapse describes two complete passages. The film begins in Tunisia and crosses Italy and part of Europe before diving into the night to show the lights of China. At some point, you may even see some lightning bolts in a thunderstorm over the Pacific. And if you never know exactly where the ISS is in the video, a handy map located in the upper left corner will let you know.

The release of the video coincides with the 20th anniversary of the ISS, which NASA, ESA and other international space partners celebrated this week. The very first module of the ISS, Zarya, was launched on November 20, 1998.