Sure we've seen our share of Aurora Australis videos, but sometimes the classics are the best.
This image, which was just uploaded to the Goddard Flickr stream, was taken on September 11, 2005 from NASA's IMAGE spacecraft, and provides a look at the Southern Lights in a way we haven't seen in quite a while. But this image is special for a few reasons. Not only does it give a broader view of the occurrence, but it is also a recording of after a record-setting solar flare sent plasma towards Earth, according to NASA.
NASA's also released an almost surreal video of the event on its Flickr stream, which you can see below.
What's really stunning is how you can see the plasma, ionized protons and neutrons, according to NASA, interact and hit the atmosphere as the wave hits Earth. Though scientists have long studied the effects of solar storms on Earth, IMAGE gave NASA scientists unprecedented data on the interaction:
Though scientists knew that the aurora were caused by charged particles from the Sun and their interaction with the Earth’s magnetic field, they had no way to measure the interaction until NASA launched the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) satellite in 2000.
Can't get enough aurora? Be sure to check out some awesome shots of the phenomenon, including this flyover photo taken from the International Space Station and this video, compiled from numerous shots taken by the ISS's onboard camera.
WATCH:
NASA's Image Of the Aurora:
