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| All images via NASA |
You’ve seen amazing images of the Aurora Borealis and its
counterpart, the Aurora Australis, but now you have a chance to see them as
never before: from space. If you think the view down on Earth is incredible beyond
words, wait until you see what these natural light phenomena look like from the
International Space Station and through the lens of the Hubble Telescope.
Auroras are created when charged particles from the sun,
called the solar wind, interact with the magnetic shield that surrounds our
planet (and other planets as well). On Earth, this magnetic shield, called the
magnetosphere, protects us from radiation by pushing the solar wind around it.
Electromagnetic waves and electric fields are created, then transfer their
energy into electrons that interact with oxygen and nitrogen to create the
beautiful natural light display we know as Aurora.
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| Beautiful Aurora Borealis |
The Aurora Borealis was named by Pierre Gassendi in 1621
after Aurora, the Roman goddess of dawn, and Boreas, the Greek name for north
wind. The Cree called it the “Dance of the Spirits.”
< In this picture of the
Aurora Borealis, the Manicouagan Impact Crater, located in northern Canada, can
be seen 300 km below. International Space Station Science Officer Don Pettit said
that “changing auroras appeared to crawl around like giant green amoebas” in
orbit.
Auroras become more visible the closer one gets to either
the north or south poles. At these extreme ends of the Earth, they may appear
high up in the sky overhead, but farther away, they seem to rise up from the
horizon as a green glow with tinges of red, like the “red crown” of Aurora
Australis, seen in the picture below. This image
almost looks like a treasure map: follow the trail and get to what looks like a
legendary castle from space.
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| Follow the Trail |
Another image of the southern lights almost looks like loops
of light created by huge glow sticks (Below);
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| Loop de loop |
and here’s the amazing view that the astronauts at the International Space
Station get to see:
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| An Astronaut’s View |
In the image below, the view
of the Aurora Borealis from the International Space Station includes the
shining lights of Finland, Russia, Estonia and Latvia. The Praesepe or Beehive
Cluster in the constellation Cancer can be seen to the lower right of the moon,
with Saturn to the right of that.
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| Take Me To the Moon |
And if you thought Auroras were spectacular on Earth, check
out these two pictures of amazing light shows on Jupiter and Saturn:
Auroras on Jupiter and Saturn
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| Aurora on Jupiter |
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| Aurorae on Saturn |
This incredible image of Saturn features its famed rings and Auroras at
either end of the planet.
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