Mind-blowing animation shows the speed of the International Space Station

An animation has illustrated just how fast the International Space Station (ISS) travels in an astonishing clip.

Given that the ISS is typically found orbiting the Earth, it's easy to underestimate the speed at which it is travelling.

It might not look like it's going that fast when it passes by any given location, but that's only because it's such a long way away.

But one piece of animation posted to YouTube shows how it looks if it were to pass by at a lower altitude, from the perspective of the ISS itself.

So what does this look like?

Check out the video to find out:

Commenters were just as taken aback, writing their thoughts on the ISS.

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.

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.”

Airplane Mode/ Youtube

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.

"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.”