THIS is how the Earth should be seen.

A time-lapse video made from footage shot by the International Space Station during one night as it orbited the planet shows the thousands of pinpoint lights that make up America's biggest cities.

The video starts over the Pacific Ocean, then moves across North and South America before a flash of daylight explodes into view near Antarctica.

The thin yellow line clearly ringing the world is the ionosphere.

Amazingly the video shows lightning striking above the Pacific Ocean around Central America.

The footage was taken from the Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth, a site that has made over a million images of Earth available to the public.

Originally published as A lightning-fast trip around the world