A European Space Agency astronaut has made a dazzling time-lapse video from aboard the International Space Station as it flew over New Zealand.

VIDEO: Watch the stunning time-lapse video here

At an altitude of around 400km, German astronaut Alexander Gerst took the night-time video showing an aurora - which occurs when Earth's atmosphere interacts with solar radiation.

The International Space Station travels at 28,800km/h which means it only takes 90 minutes to completely circle Earth.

"Astronauts often use normal consumer digital cameras to take pictures of Earth through Europe's observatory module Cupola in their spare time.

"Setting the camera to take an image every few seconds and then playing the images back quickly create this time-lapse effect," the ESA said.