This is how NASA astronaut Don Pettit viewed the aurora from @ISS on October 10, 2024. He and fellow NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick were about to call it a day and get some sleep because they couldn't get a good view of the aurora when they looked out the dome windows and realized they were flying inside the aurora, not above it.

Auroras are usually created when the Sun sends charged particles - “burps” - toward Earth through solar flares, coronal mass ejections or an active solar wind. These solar particles collide with the magnetosphere and compress it, changing the structure of Earth's magnetic field. Some of the particles trapped in the magnetic field accelerate into the Earth's upper atmosphere, where they excite nitrogen and oxygen molecules and release photons of light - auroras.

Since the space station became operational in November 2000, crew members have produced hundreds of thousands of images of Earth and natural phenomena such as the aurora. Their photos record how the planet has changed over time, allowing scientists to study phenomena, monitor disasters and guide the response on the ground.

Image description: Behind the modules of the International Space Station, the aurora, a green and red haze that curls over the Earth, is visible. A few stars are also visible.

 

Credit: NASA/Don Pettit