Milky Way Band and South African Lightning Seen from Above

Scientists with the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) Image Science & Analysis Laboratory (ISAL), in Houston, Texas, have just compiled this incredible video from photos taken from aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The images were collected between 20:55:05 to 21:14:09 GMT, on December 29, 2011, as the orbital lab was flying above the African continent. Its path took it from central Africa, southeast of Niger, to the South Indian Ocean, southeast of Madagascar. During this time, it flew over a massive storm front.

In addition to the incredible lightning show the clouds below displayed, the ISS cameras also captured unreal vistas of the Milky Way, backdropping our planet. The video that resulted is absolutely spectacular, on par with the one that documents an entire pass the station made around the planet.

The photos were snapped by members of the Expedition 30 crew to the ISS.