Orbit the Earth in One Minute From the International Space Station [Time-Lapse Video]

For most of us, this time-lapse video taken from the International Space Station is the closest we’ll ever get to actually orbiting the earth. Which is ok, because this video is awesome.

Science educator James Drake created this one-minute time-lapse video from 600 photos taken from the International Space Station. The photos, which came from a stockpile of more than 600,000, were collected by the Johnson Space Center’s Gateway to Astronomy Photograph of Earth.

The IBTimes reports that the photos used by Drake to make the video were taken from as far back as the 1960s.

The time-lapse video brings you from the Pacific Ocean, up over the Americas, toward Antarctica.

Drake explains:

“Visible cities, countries and landmarks include (in order) Vancouver Island, Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Fransisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, multiple cities in Texas, New Mexico and Mexico, Mexico City, the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, lightning in the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and the Amazon. Also visible is the earths ionosphere (thin yellow line) and the stars of our galaxy.”

Here’s the time-lapse video from the International Space Station.

Drake has more images of the universe on his blog, Infinity Imagined.

Drake’s video gives a glimpse an amazing view of the world from the International Space Station. Of course, it isn’t the only interesting thing currently in space. NASA just announced that it discovered a real life version of Star Wars planet Tatooine, as well as a brown dwarf that is the site of the largest space storm ever witnessed.