CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — It's not something you see every day, especially not from that view!
These stunning photos were captured by Chris Cassidy, a NASA astronaut and current commander of the International Space Station. He posted the photos to Twitter on June 11, noting this is how aurora australis, or the Southern lights, look from space.
According to NASA, the aurora australis is caused when charged particles from the magnetosphere are accelerated by the solar wind or storms from the sun. Trapped particles inside Earth's magnetic field are energized when pressure and magnetic energy of solar plasma stretches and twists the magnetic field, especially on the night side of Earth. That energy is released suddenly and the particles are snapped down the magnetic field lines toward the north and south magnetic poles.
The fast-moving electrons collide with Earth's upper atmosphere, which transfers their energy to oxygen and nitrogen molecules and makes them chemically "excited." As the gases return to their normal state, they emit small bursts of energy in the form of light, called photons.
The color of the southern lights depends on what type of molecules are releasing the photons. Oxygen molecules and atoms tend to glow green, white or red, while nitrogen tends to be blue or purple.
So, if you look at astronaut Chris Cassidy's photos, it's probably oxygen releasing the photons.
This isn't the first time the southern lights have been captured from the space station. You can explore more aurora australis photos captured from the ISS through the years on NASA's Earth Observatory website.
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