This video was taken by the crew of Expedition 29 on board the
International Space Station. The sequence of shots was taken October 15,
2011 from 00:47:28 to 01:02:56 GMT, on a pass beginning over the North
Atlantic Ocean, east of the Island of Newfoundland to the northern part
of the Red Sea, over the Gulf of Suez and the Sinai Peninsula. At the
beginning of the video, the Aurora Borealis can be seen in the far left
along with clouds over the North Atlantic Ocean. Tracking southeast, the
first view of lights is from the United Kingdom (Ireland, uptrack from
the UK, is under cloud), with cities like Liverpool and London showing
up nicely. Across the English Channel, the cities of Brussels and
Rotterdam (left) and Paris (brightly-lit city west of Brussels) all
stand out through a network of smaller cities in Western Europe (click
here to for our article about Northwestern Europe and how to find the
major cities). The pass continues over the snow-covered Alps and to the
Italian Peninsula, where lightning storms cover the southern half of the
peninsula. The ISS then tracks over the Mediterranean Sea, with Greece
to the left of track, northern Africa right of track, and the island of
Crete. Finally, the pass finishes near the Nile River Delta and the Red
Sea.