An incredible animation has helped people have a grasp of the speed the International Space Station (ISS) travels at as it orbits the Earth.
One animated video posted to YouTube shows what it would look like if the ISS were to pass by at a lower altitude.
The ISS circles our planets in roughly 93 minutes, completing 15.5 orbits per day, and is located at an average altitude of 400 kilometres (250 mi). Given its sheer distance from Earth, it's easy to underestimate its velocity but a clip from Airplane Mode on YouTube has put things into perspective.
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One person typed jokingly: “We should all be thankful for the bravery of the astronauts who daringly flew the ISS at such a low altitude just to give us this amazing footage.”
Another was amazed at the speed: “If you can spot it at night, it's really amazing how quickly it goes from horizon to horizon.”
It also sparked some philosophical thoughts about humanity and the universe.
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Take a look for yourself:
Someone wrote: “This only makes me appreciate the size of the Earth even more. The fact that mountains are only in frame for a fraction of a second and it would take an hour and a half version of this video to complete one circle is crazy to me. We are so tiny.”
While another added: “Next you're gonna tell me the Sun actually is a happy baby's face and our true overlords are the Teletubbies.”
How you can see the International Space Station in the sky
If you haven’t seen the ISS before, another person had some tips to share, writing: “For anyone unaware, you can see the ISS every now and then at night near ur location.
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"You just need to look up ISS fly bys then type in (near ur location), two days in a row I got lucky seeing a satellite and the ISS 2 minutes apart. There are also lives on yt of astronauts speaking in the ISS they sometimes say hello to you. Honestly it’s so great.
“Forgot to mention it happened a third time with the ISS flying over with a satellite about a month later and we started seeing a bunch of random stars moving, turns out there was a meteor shower at the same time and about 3 more satellites flew by.”
But really, the video would make a fantastic bedtime watch, as a user pointed out: “I'd really watch a 3 hour version where the ISS goes around the earth twice with some chill ambient music.”
Stefania Sarrubba