If you’ve always had a fascination for space, well guess what, Christmas came early for you. Thanks to one Alexander Gerst of Germany, you can now stare at a lengthy view of the Earth’s ever – changing surface from space. The astronaut managed to record the longest continual time lapse of planet Earth from space, using images that were taken aboard the International Space Station.

Spanning over a duration of 15 minutes, viewers will get the chance to sore over Earth as it changes from day to night, whilst giving glimpses of locations all over the world. The time lapse is made up of more than 21,000 images that were taken by Gerst from the ISS over a few hours on 6 October 2018.

The International Space Station only requires 90 minutes to complete one full orbit around Earth, and the time lapse video captures two full circuits. The lucky country over which the film begins is Tunisia, before crossing through Italy and some of the other parts of Europe. It then quickly heads to night-time China, showcasing its wondrous lights. The video even captures the lightning strikes of a thunderstorm over the Pacific at one point.

If you’re unfamiliar with space time lapses, the feature even includes a handy map at the top left hand corner to let you know where ISS is in the video. The video has been released in celebration of the 20 th anniversary of the ISS, which was celebrated by NASA, ESA, and the other international space partners earlier this week. The International Space Station’s very first module was called Zarya and it was launched on November 20 th , 1998.