Automatically Generated Videos

The following videos on this page are generated automatically using time-lapse photography. The videos make it appear as if the spacecraft is traveling much faster than it is because these images are not captured in video format but are stills combined to create time-lapse videos. The time interval between photos can vary from video to video so the ISS may appear to be moving at different speeds in various videos, but it is only an artifact of the time-lapse generation process.

Determination of day or night is based on the lighting at the suborbital (nadir) point of the spacecraft at the times the photos were taken and does not necessarily represent the lighting at the center points of the videos as the camera may be pointed at oblique angles that capture spots on the Earth with different lighting conditions.

The orbit track plotted on the maps is based on the spacecraft nadir points and those often do not coincide with the photo center points. Thus what is seen in the time-lapse video may not show the segment of Earth over which the ISS was orbiting at the time of imaging.

The UTC date that the first photo was taken in the time-lapse series of each video is used as the displayed date for each video.

The accuracy of the map locations and lighting depends on the accuracy of the internal camera clock. If the lighting and locations appear to be incorrect, it is likely due to the camera clock being off. We work diligently to prevent camera clock drift but it still can occur in our imagery.

You can view the map again after starting a video by hovering the mouse over the number of photos.

WARNING: Some videos have flashing that may potentially trigger seizures for people with photosensitive epilepsy. Viewer discretion is advised.