Check Out This Rare Glimpse of the Northern Lights As Seen From the ISS

January 28, 2025 Andrew Marshall NASA | Space

the northern lights from above — Photo: Screenshot

Few of us are lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights from below. Seeing them from the other side around — that is, from orbit — well, that’s a rare treat reserved for space farers.

NASA astronaut Don Pettit got a chance to do just that on January 6 as the International Space Station flew above the Aurora Borealis on January 6. Luckily for you and me, he recorded the display and posted the video to X.

The ISS orbits the Earth at an altitude of about 412 kilometers. Meanwhile, the green shades seen in the video are the result of discharged solar particles interacting with oxygen hovering 120 to 180 kilometers above the planet’s surface.

It’s just a nine-second clip, but you’ll probably watch it six or seven times. I know I did.

Flying over aurora; intensely green. pic.twitter.com/leUufKFnBB

— Don Pettit (@astro_Pettit) January 6, 2025

Andrew Marshall

Andrew Marshall is an award-winning painter, photographer, and freelance writer. Andrew’s essays, illustrations, photographs, and poems can be found scattered across the web and in a variety of extremely low-paying literary journals.
You can find more of his work at www.andrewmarshallimages.com, @andrewmarshallimages on Instagram and Facebook, and @pawn_andrew on Twitter (for as long as that lasts).

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