An astronaut caught a glimpse of the aurora australis while looking out across the Indian Ocean.
Published Jul 2, 2017
The colors and altitude are often the same, but the atmospheric processes are different.
Published Aug 16, 2020
Auroras show out atmosphere’s connection to the heliosphere—the solar system-wide atmosphere of the Sun.
Published Oct 2, 2017
Astronauts on the International Space Station captured these views of the aurora australis and wildfires in Australia.
Published Sep 27, 2011
Solar storms smacked into Earth’s magnetic field and provoked auroras over the southern and northern hemisphere just after the summer solstice.
Published Jun 28, 2015
Astronauts captured this unusual view of a Perseid meteor descending into Earth's atmosphere in August 2011.
Published Aug 17, 2011
The diffuse orange and green bands of light are caused by molecules in the atmosphere that have been energized by absorbing ultraviolet radiation from the Sun.
Published Oct 8, 2020
Photographers captured these digital photos of a four-stage Black Brant XII sounding rocket and the aurora borealis on December 12, 2010, during the NASA-funded Rocket Experiment for Neutral Upwelling (RENU).
Published Jan 4, 2011
A geomagnetic storm in early October lit up the skies with northern lights that were detected by an Earth-observing satellite.
Published Oct 10, 2012
This ultraviolet image, captured by NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) Ahead spacecraft on February 12, 2010, shows solar storms brewing in two active areas of the Sun.
Published Mar 20, 2010
An unexpected aurora colored the skies of Canada and northern U.S. states.
Published Aug 30, 2018
With sixteen sunrises and sunsets, astronauts have a lot of chances to see our nearest solar system neighbor.
Published Jun 23, 2019
At the boundary between Earth and space, particles and gases and energy do an intricate and colorful dance that varies daily.
Published Jan 7, 2020
A stunning aurora appeared over Hudson Bay in March, historically the most geomagnetically active month.
Published Mar 29, 2019
Reds and greens dominate this view of the northern lights as photographed from the Space Shuttle in May 1991.
Published Apr 15, 2001
After months of quiet, the Sun burst in to activity in late October and early November 2013.
Published Nov 7, 2013
City lights sprawl across Earth’s surface below a constant glow in the upper atmosphere.
Published Oct 23, 2018
From space, the aurora is a crown of light that circles each of Earth’s poles. The IMAGE satellite captured this view of the aurora australis four days after a record-setting solar flare sent plasma flying towards the Earth.
Published Jan 25, 2006
NASA’s Radiation Belt Storm Probes will give an inside view of the vast Van Allen radiation belts.
Published Aug 31, 2012
Astronauts aboard the STS-97 Space Shuttle mission in December photographed the northern lights after undocking from the International Space Station. TThe faint, thin greenish band stretching across and above the horizon is airglow; radiation emitted by the atmosphere from a layer about 30 km thick and about 100 km altitude.
Published Jan 14, 2001
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