Being an astronaut brings with it some pretty decent street cred, and it must take a while to get tired of the view from up top.

I would say astronauts have a pretty good sense of the earth’s shape, unlike certain rappers, but let’s focus on natural beauty rather than natural stupidity.

Astronaut Paolo Nespoli snapped 711 photos of Aurora borealis on September 15, and when they’re all pieced together they create one mighty fine timelapse.

For real, though, it’s pretty spectacular:

I’m keen, so there’s a few things you should know.

According to Conde Nast Traveler, you’ll need proper timing to really nail the Northern Lights. In many of areas December to March is optimal, and they picked their top five destinations as follows:

• Bláskógabyggð, Iceland
• Abisko, Sweden
• Churchill, Canada
• Tromsø, Norway
• Kilpisjärvi, Finland

Gives you time to plan, right? Turns out you can land a pretty decent flight to Toronto HERE, although you’ll have a bit of work to do before you land in Churchill.

Or you could fly to London (HERE) and pop across to Scandinavia, fit in a little dog-sledding and catch the natural phenomenon over a nice warm drink.

No specials on space flights just yet, but I’m sure that day is coming soon too.

[source:telegraph&condenast]