Incredible time-lapse video shows Earth from 250 miles away

last updated 8 January 2015

We've seen plenty of amazing time-lapse videos recorded on Earth, but Alexander Gerst, an astronaut at the European Space Agency, has taken the art of the time-lapse video to space.

Gerst caught the footage as the ISS flew over Brazil and the Atlantic Ocean at speeds of roughly 18,000 miles per hour, from approximately 250 miles above Earth. The video is part of a 166-day mission called "Blue Dot," named after Carl Sagan's description of Earth as a "pale blue dot" when photographed by NASA's Voyager probe. Other experiments during the mission "will cover materials physics, human physiology, radiation biology, solar research, biotechnology, fluid physics and astrophysics," reports iO9.

Gerst has only worked on the ISS crew since late May, but if this video is any indication, he may soon join the ranks of astronauts like Chris Hadfield and become a household name for giving the Earth-bound an inside look into life in space. Gerst has already amassed 72,000 Twitter followers for his insights from space, whether he's sharing breathtaking photos of the moon or he's just watching the World Cup with other ISS crew members.