Video courtesy of the Image Science & Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/Videos/CrewEarthObservationsVideos

This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 29 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken October 29, 2011 from 15:24:54 to 15:52:55 GMT, on a pass from western Kazakhstan near the Caspian Sea southeast to South Australia, just north of the Great Australian Bight. The video begins just northwest of the Tibetan Plateau, where the greenish glow is from airglow. The line separating the plateau and the city lights to the right of track are the Himalaya Mountains, with cities like New Delhi, Lahore, and Islamabad standing out. Continuing down track, one can spot the brightly-lit city of Calcutta just right of track before flying over Burma and Thailand. Thailand’s capital city, Bangkok, is the brightest-lit city in the video. The white lights of the city can be seen nearby the green and purple lights on the Gulf of Thailand, which are fishing boats and oil rigs. Once across the Gulf of Thailand, cities like Kuala Lumpur and Singapore stand out right of track before flying over the island of Java (long, thin island downtrack from Singapore). Near the end of the video the ISS flies southeast over Australia and lightning storms, and the Milky Way can be seen rising in the sky.

Compiled from frames ISS029-E-36830 to ISS029-E-37387