Photographer Christoph Malin from Austria created this amazing film by stacking image sequences taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station. It shows beautiful star trails and city lights streaking over the Earth’s surface as seen from space.

The results show off incredible patterns of light as the ISS zooms by. Along with the man-made metropolises, you can see glimpses of lightning corridors flashing within clouds, green auroras, satellite tracks, meteors, and even a quick appearance by the famous sun-diving comet Lovejoy (at about 1:42).

Malin said he was inspired to make the video because of his love of space and the view from mankind’s outpost in the universe. He’d seen other videos using ISS footage and, wanting to add something himself, he said he, “grabbed me a Red Bull, and worked through a night and 1 terabyte of ISS data.” The end result must be one of the most beautiful results of an all-nighter ever.

[Sources: Wired, Christopher Malin]