Image Science and Analysis Laboratory, NASA-Johnson Space Center. “The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.” http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/Videos/CrewEarthObservationsVideos

This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 30 on board the International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken December 22, 2011 from 20:58:50 to 21:09:35 GMT, on a pass starting over western Switzerland to the southern half of the Arabian Peninsula, over Saudi Arabia. This video focuses on stars overhead as the lights of Western Europe to the Arabian Peninsula fly by under the airglow of the Earth. The pass begins looking over the Adriatic and Ionian Seas toward Greece. As the ISS travels southeast toward the eastern Mediterranean Sea, the island of Cyprus and countries of Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan can be seen as brightly lit areas. To the left of track, more populated cities near the Persian Gulf are seen. The ISS continues southeast toward the less populated areas of southern Saudi Arabia before approaching the Indian Ocean.

Compiled from frames ISS030-E-22740 to ISS030-E-22955