Stunning Picture of Aurora Australis as Seen from the International Space Station

An astronaut onboard the International Space Station took the above picture on May 29, 2010. Aurorae occur when solar ions come in contact with hydrogen and oxygen atoms in Earth’s upper atmosphere; NASA believes that this particular aurora australis occurred because of a coronal mass ejection from the Sun which had occurred five days before.

(via NASA Earth Observatory, Bad Astronomy)

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Robert Quigley