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© ISS/NASA
Maybe you've heard. There is a one-million pound tinker toy floating 200 miles above the surface of the Earth. The International Space Station zips around the Earth at 17,000 miles per hour and witnesses 17 sunrises and sunsets every day. What you may not know is that in addition to all their other duties, the space station astronauts are pretty good photographers.

The images below were captured from August to October, 2011 from the deck of the International Space Station. The stunning sequences show the Aurora Borealis, night passes over cities, and crackling lightning storms. Images were taken with a special low-light 4K camera and they give some of the best perspectives yet on what it is like to travel aboard the space station.


If you find these views of Earth intriguing, maybe you'd be interested in the reverse angle. This article describes how to capture images of the space station from your Earthly location.