Fascinated by the vastness and wonderment of space that was presented in Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey? Then you have to check out this six-minute time-lapse video. Our beautiful planet Earth stars in the clip that’s actually made up of 12, 500 photographs taken by European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst during his six-month stint in space aboard the International Space Station. While carrying out scientific experiences way up in the sky, Alexander smartly set cameras to automatically snap pictures at regular intervals. The result is what you see here: a spectacularly seamless and breathtaking look at our pale blue dot*.
*Blue Dot was the name of Alexander’s mission to space. And of course the ESA is borrowing that name from the late, great astronomer Carl Sagan; he was the creator and host of the original Cosmos series and he famously described Earth as “a pale blue dot.”