Watch: The Stunning Southern Lights, As Seen From Space
NDTV
Astronaut Thomas Pesquet shared a time-lapse video of the southern lights or aurora australis on social media.
For years, we have been mesmerised by southern lights in photos and videos. But how do they look from above the Earth's atmosphere? No need to tire yourself by imagining. French astronaut Thomas Pesquet is giving us a unique sighting of the southern lights (also called aurora australis) from the International Space Station (ISS) that is orbiting the planet. A time-lapse video shows a vast expanse of green light shimmering over the Earth's surface. Mr Pesquet captioned the photo, “Daytime aurora australis”, and added, “Clouds compete for attention in this aurora timelapse over a blue ocean.”
In the video, we see the space station travel over the lit-up side of the planet towards the dark side of the Earth. At first, we come across a thick blanket of clouds spread over an ocean. As the spacecraft moves, the camera is almost overhead the green lights.
Southern lights are caused when the Sun releases a massive gust of solar wind. When particles carried by the solar winds interact with the Earth's magnetic field, they collide to produce energy, which releases in the form of auroras.
