Photo #1 (Dec 2011)

AROUND THE WORLD IN 90 MINUTES 


i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and love and wings; and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any – lifted from the no
of all nothing – human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
- e.e. cummings

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

Video Credit: Expedition 28 & 29 Crews, ISAL, NASA's JSC; 
Compilation and Editing: Michael König; Music: Do Dekor (Jan Jelinek), faitiche

What is it like to circle the Earth? Every 90 minutes, astronauts aboard the International Space Station experience just that. Recently, crew members took a series of light-sensitive videos looking down at night that have been digitally fused to produce the above time-lapse video. Many wonders of the land and sky are visible in the eighteen sequences, including red aurora above green aurora, lights from many major cities, and stars in the background. Looming at the top of the frame is usually part of the space station itself, sometimes seen re-orienting solar panels. Please help create a useful companion guide for this moving video by identifying landmarks, cities, countries, weather phenomena, and even background constellations that appear.

See also: Around The World in 90 minutes for a much more extensive presentation

   Wonder of wonderment!
       Glorious, breath-catching vistas!
             Tribute to countless inventors, visionaries,
                   And even more countless anonymous hands,
                       Blended with heart energies that lofts a mighty craft
                       To circle our planet, and return these views
                  From the edge of eternity
            Which we inhabit... at least for now.
       The future of this glorious planet
   Remains in your hands and mine.
                                            Great healings are needed by all.
                                                         - Dan Benor