Aurora Australis PHOTO: Southern Lights Seen From Space

An astronaut on board the International Space Station has photographed a rare sight: the aurora australis (southern lights) as seen from space.

This image of the southern lights was captured aboard the International Space Station (ISS) at an altitude of 217 miles. Aurorae usually appear slightly lower--some 50 - 100 miles above the surface of the Earth.

While the phenomenon is usually visible closer to the North and South Poles, geomagnetic storms can push the auroras closer to the equator. NASA believes this particular storm to have been caused by a coronal mass ejection from the Sun on May 24.

In the image below, the mostly-green aurora is visible above a thick cloud cover. The bent blue band is the horizon of Earth's upper atmosphere. (Click here for the original image.)

The image below, which shows the aurora australis from the ground, was taken in 2005 at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.

(Image courtesy of Chris Danals, National Science Foundation)

Comments

[NHBill]

09:00 AM on 06/24/2010

I have only seen the AB once.
It was well past midnight, cold Skowhegan Maine winter's night with zero clouds and pulsing dancing green glowing sky. I wrapped myself up and sat on the hood of my car for hours. It was over 30 years ago but I can still see it if I close my eyes.

[rotorhead1871]

11:02 PM on 06/22/2010

totally cool high energy stuff...love it!!!

[falgiano]

12:34 PM on 06/22/2010

awesome

[HorseChowda]

12:23 PM on 06/22/2010

I live in northern Alberta, Canada, and the northern lights are a regular occurrence. They are truly amazing - pictures don't do them justice. Most of the time they're green like you see here, but sometimes they will range from green, orange, to pink and purple, and they move fast. The first time you see that, it's hard to keep your mouth closed.

[Mike Clark II]

12:03 PM on 06/22/2010

so beautiful, it looks fake, but it just shows how beautiful our earth is

[wewin]

11:17 AM on 06/22/2010

I was on a camping trip in canada, and as the evening began me and my buddy rolled a fatty and laid back on a big rock a top a small island. About an hour later the lights came out in full force. I turned to him and said, "Good shiiiiit man."

[farley1]

11:37 AM on 06/22/2010

Ha!

[henrypapillon]

10:56 AM on 06/22/2010

Some of those NASA shots are truly amazing, just beautiful to look at.

[Coinyer101]

10:35 AM on 06/22/2010

Horse-hooey. Everyone knows the US is using that HAARP weapon again....,heh

[ChiBloger]

10:18 AM on 06/22/2010

This is really beautiful stuff. Beautiful until the ozone crashes or the earth’s magnetic field declines and then this stuff isn’t pretty anymore.

[equianimi]

10:29 AM on 06/22/2010

The magnetic field isn't going anywhere, ozone on the other hand.....

[NHBill]

09:01 AM on 06/24/2010

When did Debbie Downer move to Chicago?

[rjhuntington]

10:11 AM on 06/22/2010

Electric Universe!

[henrypapillon]

10:57 AM on 06/22/2010

There is no god, just electricity. It holds it all together.

[rjhuntington]

11:34 AM on 06/22/2010

I agree. Everyone is God, Electrically. There's nothing else to be.

[anotherplayaguy]

09:54 AM on 06/22/2010

And it will continue, long after the human species has killed itself and most of the planet off.

[henrypapillon]

10:58 AM on 06/22/2010

of course.

[fredisfred]

09:54 AM on 06/22/2010

Wicked cool

[SiriusMrE]

09:37 AM on 06/22/2010

Truly awesome! Mankind has been awed by these types of displays for centuries.

"The mountain of the gods, the tree of life, the pillars that supported the sky, the ladder or arrow-string to the sky, dragons, thunderbirds, the turtle that supported the earth, the tail-biting snake that surrounded the earth, layered heavens and underworlds, the sentinels of the cardinal directions, the primordial race of animal-like beings, the stationary sun or morning star – these and many others are global motifs belonging to the so-called ‘age of creation’ or ‘age of the gods’ that can be explained as symbolic descriptions of discrete plasma forms seen above the horizon during episodes of this prolonged high-energy-density auroral storm."
Divining the Meaning of the Aurora: http://thunderbolts.info/tpod/2009/arch09/090703meaning.htm

[moose and squirrel]

09:07 AM on 06/22/2010

SICK!

[studana51]

09:06 AM on 06/22/2010

Sorry kids, I love science too...but they're emptying their waste tanks.

[NHBill]

09:02 AM on 06/24/2010

lol