Southern Lights, Daybreak Seen In Photo Snapped By Space Station Astronauts

By: SPACE.com Staff
Published: 03/15/2012 02:07 PM EDT on SPACE.com

An exquisite photo of Earth's horizon taken from the International Space Station reveals the glimmer of daybreak on one side, offset by dazzling auroras over the planet's South Pole region on the other.

The remarkable view was captured by one of the astronauts living aboard the International Space Station on March 6, as the orbiting outpost flew over the Indian Ocean, roughly 1,200 miles (1,930 kilometers) south of Australia.

Auroras over the South Pole are called the southern lights, or aurora australis. When these dazzling light shows occur over the Arctic Circle, they are known as the northern lights, or aurora borealis.

Two different Russian space vehicles can also be seen in the foreground of the image. The Soyuz space capsule, which carries spaceflyers to and from the station, is in the center of the image, and is connected to the Pirs docking compartment on the Russian segment of the complex. The robotic Russian Progress cargo ship is located on the right side of the image.

The International Space Station flies about 240 miles (386 kilometers) above the Earth's surface, and is currently home to six spaceflyers. The station's Expedition 30 is made up of American astronauts Dan Burbank (commander of the mission) and Don Pettit, Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers, and Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov, Anatoly Ivanishin and Oleg Kononenko.

The astronauts aboard the space station often share photos of Earth from space for science and public outreach purposes.

NASA recently released spectacular photos and videos of Earth's auroras taken by Burbank and Pettit. These images were part of a coordinated campaign, called AuroraMAX, aimed at engaging the public in the beauty of the northern lights and the science behind the natural phenomena. AuroraMAX is a collaboration between NASA, the University of Calgary, the city of Yellowknife in Canada, Astronomy North and the Canadian Space Agency.

Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

• Photos: Auroras Supercharged by March 2012 Solar Storm
• OVER EARTH - Majestic Views from Orbit
• A Guide for Watching Earth's Auroras

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Comments

[king soloman]

02:10 PM on 03/19/2012

and we are cutting back funding for nasa why ????

[Morgan378]

12:30 AM on 03/18/2012

And without this shield we'd all have perished long ago having never even developed. Beautiful, yet not benign, it shows how special earth is in it's revolution around the sun. Closer in orbit to the sun and we'd be too hot - farther away by the same minute degree of parabolic course and we'd be frozen. If not for the tilt of earth around the sun as it is for this moment in time - which is long and having been stabalized - we again wouldn't be here. It has never lasted for long. Earth has been previously frozen solid - and at a high tropical heat even at the poles. Wobbling as we do - if anything should change - we'd be hard pressed to use the great oil reserves here that could've perhaps saved the great majority in heated homes or run cooling machines to maintain us until further technology could be developed to help us survive. Mars? Time? As the moon moves farther from the earth it's gravity will diminish and then the seas will be slung increasingly to their own whims. Aurora Borealis or Australia - weakens and changes it's stereoscopic coverage of earth. Even with the "billions and billions" of planets around stars as scientists are sure there are - humans survive in a sliver of what conditions any one of them might provide. Death is beautiful in it's own way, as are the borealis.

[Autora]

09:46 PM on 03/17/2012

So much fun that it's daybreak on one side, and Southern lights on the other. I love machinery, too, so thought it was a great shot with all the space equipment in it as well. Wish I could print this!

[Lacey Epperson]

01:57 PM on 03/17/2012

God's Creation is awesome!

[musicmasterno1]

12:42 PM on 03/17/2012

As much as I'd love to feed and clothe the world, what is the end game? Our population is at 7.5 Billion and growing exponentially. Do we need to forgo space exploration to allow earth-bound people to live longer and breed even more? To what end? Cannibalism and a toxic planet?

This planet only has so much room and so many resources. If we think unselfishly and REALLY want our descendants to survive, we need to start thinking long-term for them and stop with the shortsightedness of serving ourselves. Invest more money in space and focus on the survival of the species, not the comfort of a generation.

[tws9652]

07:20 PM on 03/17/2012

With all due respect, what's so great about this species?

Let's see, there's evil, hatred, fighting, killing, bullying, lying, cheating, stealing, child abuse, spousal abuse, "I'm right and everyone else is wrong", etc.

[lou2391]

09:19 PM on 03/17/2012

Well for one, God created us for a purpose, then He robed Himself in human flesh came to take our sins upon Himself on Calvary so we could be free. Died, rose again and is alive forever more.It is up to each individual what we do with our lives. There will always be those that want to be rebels.

[Brian Manning]

12:47 AM on 03/18/2012

So we all deserve to die because of your delusional self-hatred?

[Canefighter]

11:54 AM on 03/17/2012

I love photos from space. I really am looking forward to the photos that He will be sending from the moon of Earth.

[badgersden5606]

05:08 AM on 03/17/2012

Maybe it's a St. Patrick's day party in Memphis?

[psridgell]

08:22 PM on 03/16/2012

The moon landing was a hoax ! The earth is flat, this is computer generation ! We don't need NASA ! ....Where is George Noory ???

[Mouse223]

02:26 PM on 03/16/2012

Um, cool beans man

[hemipwr54]

02:04 PM on 03/16/2012

Boring! Who cares! Seen it before! Waste of Billions to photograph Southern Lights. Better observed from the ground!
Cut NASA funding, nothing but junk science and photos comes from it!
BORING!

[Mark Midyette]

03:37 PM on 03/16/2012

So, how much do you think it would save?

[DXM]

03:41 PM on 03/16/2012

NASA's budget account for less than 1/2% of the Federal budget and in the estimation of most people around the world, the money is very well spent. Of course the intellectually incurious don't care about anything that does not bring them immediate, personal gratification.

[Mark Midyette]

06:57 PM on 03/16/2012

That was where I was heading with my question above. An example that I have posted in other threads, where the "intellectually incurious" (I like that phrase) have posted, is the 2010 Department of Defense budget was approx. 650 Billion dollars while NASA's entire budget has been approx. 490 Billion through 2012.

That is a one year DOD budget at 650 Billion dollars, compared to a 54 year NASA budget of 490 Billion.

[sambittnerbaird]

12:54 PM on 03/16/2012

Gorgeous. Anyone else notice Orion in the background at one point?

[toohsa2]

04:15 PM on 03/17/2012

If they were filming the southern lights that could not have been Orion, Orion is in the northern sky. May be it was the Southern Cross?

[sambittnerbaird]

08:32 PM on 03/17/2012

You might want to watch the video. It was taken in space, not from the ground. You can see what people on the ground see as the northern sky from pretty far south. The earth doesn't cover as much of the sky when you're not standing on it. :P

[donald ourand]

09:58 AM on 03/16/2012

can you get the iss out of the way?

[ecurbwl]

09:53 PM on 03/16/2012

Yes-----------------he will be voted out in 2012 !

[Brian Manning]

12:51 AM on 03/18/2012

Keep dreaming.