Northern Lights Viewed From the International Space
Station
Astronaut Mike Hopkins, aboard the International Space Station, shared this
picture of the northern lights on Oct. 9, 2013, saying "The pic doesn't do the
northern lights justice. Covered the whole sky. Truly amazing!" The northern
lights are caused by collisions between fast-moving particles (electrons) from
space and the oxygen and nitrogen gas in our atmosphere. These electrons
originate in the magnetosphere, the region of space controlled by Earth’s
magnetic field. As they rain into the atmosphere, the electrons impart energy to
oxygen and nitrogen molecules, making them excited. When the molecules return to
their normal state, they release photons, small bursts of energy in the form of
light.
Astronauts have used hand-held cameras to photograph the Earth for more than
40 years. Beginning with the Mercury missions in the early 1960s, astronauts
have taken more than 700,000 photographs of the Earth. Today, the space station
continues the NASA tradition of Earth observation from human-tended
spacecraft.
Image Credit: NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
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