Superbright aurora lights up Earth's night side in incredible image from space

By Yasemin Saplakoglu about 2 hours ago

"This one is special as it is so bright."



European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet snapped a photo of a stunning aurora on Aug. 20 from the International Space Station. (Image credit: Thomas Pesquet/ESA/NASA)


An astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) captured a stunning new photo of the luminous green and red lights of an aurora hugging clouds swirling around Earth's night side.

"Another aurora but this one is special as it is so bright," European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet wrote on Instagram and Twitter. "It is the full Moon lighting up the shadow side of Earth almost like daylight." Pesquet snapped the photo on Aug. 20.

It's not clear whether the lights were the northern lights, known as the aurora borealis, or their southern counterpart, the aurora australis, according to Business Insider. Auroras, named after the Roman goddess of dawn, can be seen clearly from the ground and from space, such as aboard the ISS, where many astronauts have snapped photos of the ghostly light shows.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/stunning-aurora-photo-international-space-station

More aurora images taken from space:

https://tinyurl.com/3sthujsr