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Subscribe to RSSA man looks for meteorites while standing on the Col du Tronc path above Verbier, Switzerland on Aug. 10, 2012. The Mont Blanc massif mountain range lies in the background of this one-second-exposure photograph.
Alessandro Della Bella / EPA
Watch the Milky Way spin
Time-lapse video from the International Space Station shows off the Milky Way.
The International Space Station's crew has been sending down tons of stunning imagery of the planet below, but the main appeal of this video goes in a different direction — toward the gorgeous galaxy right above our heads.
The time-lapse video is based on pictures taken on Dec. 29 while the space station sailed high above Africa, crossing over to the South Indian Ocean. You can make out the flashes of lightning storms, and if you look very closely you can see the long streak of Comet Lovejoy against the backdrop of the Milky Way. The best frame for seeing the comet comes around the 12-second mark in the 23-second clip displayed above. If you need help spotting it, play this YouTube alternative. Here's the HD version from NASA.
To see the latest and greatest time-lapse and still imagery from the International Space Station's vantage point, check out NASA's Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth (and particularly the video page). For still more, you'll want to keep tabs on the Fragile Oasis Facebook page as well as NASA astronaut Ron Garan's Google+ page.
More views of Earth from space:
- Take a virtual sleigh ride in orbit
- The best of NASA's night lights
- 'Amazing' view of Comet Lovejoy from space
- Fly over the southern lights on the space station
Tip o' the Log to Jason Major, who watches over Lights in the Dark.
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.
Time-lapse trifecta! Photog captures meteor, Milky way and Northern Lights
Tommy Eliassen/Caters News Agency
A meteor streaks across the Milky Way adjacent to a display of the Northern Lights in Norway.
A meteor, the Milky Way and the Northern Lights. Capturing just one of these natural beauties in a photo is a feat many photographers would be proud of.
Amateur photographer Tommy Eliassen struck photo gold in this beautifully composed image he shot in Ifjord, Finnmark, Norway.
Eliassen made the photo on Sept. 25 using a Nikon D700 with a wide angle lens and long exposures between 25-30 seconds.
In an interview with Caters News, The 33-year-old, who capitalized on a narrow window of clear skies, talked about the experience.
I quickly went and took some pictures in a regular spot of mine, and thought to myself that I had got some good aurora shots and also some separate good milky way shots. But just as the clouds started to come in over the mountains I noticed this faint aurora lining up perfectly beside the milky way. Normally the lights from the aurora is much, much stronger than the lights from the stars, so getting the right exposure on both is difficult. But it was ideal conditions - almost once in a lifetime.
He was able to snap seven images of the scene before clouds moved back in.
"I was so focused on getting it right that I didn't think about it at the time. But afterwards I realized that this was something special and that it might be years before I get an opportunity like it again," he said.
See more amazing space shots in our slideshow: The Month in Space Pictures.