23 Gorgeous Picture of Auroras taken from Space
Auroras (the northern and southern lights) are visible from the ground after powerful solar storms, but these natural light shows look even more majestic from above. Here are 24 spectacular photos of auroras taken from space.
1. View of the Southern Lights from Challenger
A green aurora slices through the Southern Hemisphere between Antarctica and Australia. This vintage shot of the southern lights was captured in April 1985 by astronaut Robert F. Overmyer aboard the space shuttle Challenger.
(Image credit: NASA / Robert F. Overmyer)
2. Aurora over Moscow
The northern lights swoop beneath a full moon as Moscow glows like a golden spider on the left of the frame. This photo was taken in April 2014 by an Expedition 39 crewmember aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
(Image credit: NASA / Rick Mastracchio)
3. A World-Eating Serpent
A vivid-green, nearly round aurora curls over the Southern Hemisphere like an enormous serpent. This exquisite photo was taken with NASA’s IMAGE satellite in September 2005 from its orbit more than 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) over Earth.
(Image credit: NASA Goddard)
4. Auroras at Solar Maximum
A green-and-red aurora snakes across the Southern Hemisphere in this photo from the space shuttle Discovery in May 1991. This photo was captured during solar maximum — the period of maximum solar activity in the sun’s 11-year cycle — when outbursts of charged solar particles are far more common, resulting in more frequent auroras on Earth.
(Image credit: MSFC / NASA)
5. Aurora with a Dragon
Earth is bathed in green, orange, and red auroral light in this photo taken from the ISS in August 2016. In the foreground, a SpaceX Dragon resupply vehicle docks with the space station’s Harmony module.
(Image credit: NASA / JSC)
6. Sinuous Southern Lights
A sinuous green aurora curls through the Southern Hemisphere in this photo taken from the space shuttle Discovery in spring 1991. According to NASA, much of the shuttle’s operations over Earth’s nightside were devoted to studying auroras.
(Image credit: NASA / JSC)
7. Aurora at Sunrise
A green aurora steals the show from a blue sunrise creeping over the horizon as European cities twinkle in the predawn light. Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti captured this image aboard the ISS in March 2015.
(Image credit: NASA / JSC / Samantha Cristoforetti)
8. Aurora with a Vortex
A low-pressure area, or cloud vortex, spirals over the Gulf of Alaska as the northern lights dance overhead. A crewmember of the Endeavor took this image while the space shuttle was docked with the ISS in March 2008.
(Image credit: NASA / JSC)
9. Aurora with Orion
multicolored aurora spikes toward the constellation Orion while the Southern Hemisphere sleeps below. This photo was taken from the space shuttle Endeavor in April 1994.
(Image credit: NASA / JSC)
10. Southern Lights at Sunset
The southern lights swoop across the atmosphere in a bow shape while the waning light of the setting sun crawls over the horizon to the west. This image was taken from the ISS in February 2003.
(Image credit: NASA / JSC)
11. Sea of Green
The Indian Ocean becomes a sea of green as the southern lights douse the atmosphere overhead. Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide took this image aboard the ISS in August 2021.
(Image credit: NASA / Akihiko Hoshide)
12. Corkscrew in the Sky
The aurora australis corkscrew over the Southern Hemisphere at night, stunning astronauts. This photo was taken by the crew of NASA’s Atlantis orbiter during a nine-day mission in 1992.
(Image credit: NASA / JSC)
13. Space Station over a Green Planet
Two modules of the ISS gaze down at a stormy sea of green auroras below. This image was taken by European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Pesquet in August 2021, during his tenure aboard the ISS.
(Image credit: ESA / Thomas Pesquet)
14. Rainbow in the Atmosphere
Gorgeous bands of red, green, and orange auroras slice across the Southern Hemisphere in this epic photo snapped by astronaut Tim Peake. Peake took this photo from aboard the ISS in early 2016.
(Image credit: ESA / Tim Peake)
15. Northern Lights before Christmas: Golden
European cities shimmer at Christmastime in this December 2018 photo of the northern lights. ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst caught this gorgeous image from aboard the ISS.
(Image credit: ESA / Alexander Gerst)
16. Aurora over Canada:
colorful display of northern lights dance over Canada in this January 2016 photo taken by ESA astronaut Tim Peake during his stay aboard the ISS. The dark foreground shows Banff and Jasper National Parks while the bright city lights of Edmonton and Calgary glow in the distance.
(Image credit: ESA / Tim Peake)
17. “I Can’t Look Away”
A city smolders in the foreground while colorful auroras peek over the horizon. “The view at night recently has been simply magnificent,” ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet, who snapped the photo, wrote in 2017. “Few clouds, intense auroras. I can’t look away from the windows.”
(Image credit: ESA / Thomas Pesquet)
18. “Thick, Green Fog”
ESA astronaut Tim Peake also took this haunting photo as the ISS passed through a curtain of green auroras in 2016. “The ISS just passed straight through a thick green fog of aurora,” Peake wrote when he posted the photo. “Eerie but very beautiful.”
(Image credit: ESA / Tim Peake)
19. Lighting up the Clouds
Looking straight down from the ISS in 2015, ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst took this photo of a green aurora washing over the clouds of Earth. “An aurora lighting up the clouds beneath us,” Gerst wrote on social media.
(Image credit: ESA / Alexander Gerst)
20. Blue Planet
Green and red auroras swoop over the clouds and ocean in this beautiful image that shows off Earth’s reputation as the blue planet. ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst snapped this image from the ISS in 2014.
(Image credit: ESA / Alexander Gerst)
21. Hello from Canadarm2
The ISS’ Canadarm2 robotic arm curls up, seemingly waving at the dazzling auroras below. The last remnants of disappearing sunlight can be seen far to the left in this 2014 photo.
(Image credit: ESA)
22. Aurora with the Milky Way
The stars of the Milky Way shimmer above a green aurora in this 2012 photo. Astronaut André Kuipers also took this photo during his mission aboard the ISS, part of which can be seen at the top of the image.
(Image credit: ESA / Andre Kuipers)
23. Aurora and Crater
Green auroras snake over northern Canada in this epic 2006 photo taken from the ISS. In the foreground, the Manicouagan impact crater stands as a testament to Earth’s ancient relationship with space.
(Image credit: ESA)
By:- Ranjan Kumar