This image shows the polar lights, as photographed by astronaut Alexander Gerst, from Earth orbit, aboard the International Space Station.
Credit: NASA/ESA/Alexander Gerst
German astronaut Alexander Gerst of the European Space Agency (ESA) recently posted a wonderful photograph (Fig. 1) of the aurora, taken from the International Space Station (ISS). The aurora is a spectacular colorful glow that occurs when energetic particles coming from the Sun collide with particles of Earth’s upper atmosphere. The auroras are often visible over the polar regions, but sometimes may extend away from the poles.
Describing the fascinating polar lights, Gerst wrote: "words can't describe how it feels flying through an #aurora. I wouldn't even know where to begin…."
The ISS is the largest spacecraft ever launched. It is 108 m wide, and weighs approximately 450 tonnes. It orbits Earth every 93 minutes, at an altitude of about 420 km. It serves as a sophisticated space laboratory, for conducting advanced scientific and medical research, in a microgravity environment. It is a giant project among five space agencies: the U.S. space agency (NASA), the Russian Federal Space Agency (RKA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
The ISS crewmembers picture the Earth from their vantage point, to track how the dynamic blue planet is changing over time, from human-caused changes such as urban growth, to violent natural phenomena, like hurricanes and volcanoes. Since the dawn of the Space Age, astronauts have been photographing the home planet. The images acquired onboard the ISS ensure the continuity of this unique record.
References
NASA
www.nasa.gov/
Wikipedia