The crewmembers on the International Space Station got quite the cosmic show this weekend when bright green and red aurora sparked by a solar storm danced above Earth.
NASA astronauts Scott Kelly and Kjell Lindgren posted psychedelic photos of the celestial light show on Twitter Sunday, sharing their incredible views of auroras from space with people that may not have been able to see the curtains of light covering the planet.
By morning's Northern lights. Good morning from @Space_Station! #YearInSpace pic.twitter.com/Pw9vEJYqKn— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) September 21, 2015
#GoodMorning #NorthernLights. You looked quite sinister this morning. #YearInSpace pic.twitter.com/FNfRAIKfw4— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) September 20, 2015
Saturday and Sunday's auroras were likely sparked by a powerful solar storm that impacted Earth over the weekend. A burst of super-heated plasma called a coronal mass ejection shot out from the sun on Sept. 18, arriving at Earth over the weekend, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center.
Auroras are created when particles shot from the sun slam into Earth's magnetic field. Those charged particles are drawn down to Earth's poles along magnetic field lines, and some of them make it to Earth's upper atmosphere, where the solar material interacts with neutral particles.
Those neutral particles start to glow with colorful light when disturbed by the solar matter, creating the light show for people lucky enough to see it in space and on Earth.
Unbelievable range of colors - gave me goosebumps! pic.twitter.com/T6r70C0rSL— Kjell Lindgren (@astro_kjell) September 20, 2015
Day 177. #NorthernLights brought excitement in the atmosphere today. Good night from @space_station! #YearInSpace pic.twitter.com/pmaBlEbGty— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) September 20, 2015
The six people living and working on the Space Station have a front-row seat to the auroras unlike any view on Earth. The ISS cosmonauts and astronauts are actually able to look down into the northern and southern lights, seeing a view of the lights unobstructed by clouds.
The station also experiences 16 sunrises and sunsets every day, giving the people on the outpost a higher chance of seeing the auroras dance above a dark Earth.
Some people on the planet were also able to see the auroras dance above their heads this weekend:
@Aurora_Alerts @AuroraMAX @KevinGibeau Aurora from Selah, Washington 3am this morning. pic.twitter.com/VSOAEC4ubC— Van Adam Davis (@vantheman1981) September 20, 2015
#Aurora over #PEC near Wellington ON Sep 20 '15 @QuinteNewsNow @weathernetwork @EpicCosmos @AuroraMAX @Aurora_Alerts pic.twitter.com/8shFwh0zrC— Starfest (@Starfest2016) September 20, 2015
Aurora Sept 20th; Grand Valley,ON @wwxchaser @eljakeo30 @DTChapmanPics @dartanner @treetanner @AuroraMAX @TamithaSkov pic.twitter.com/0vB6GSBdzm— Kayla (@KayBeWx) September 20, 2015
@AuroraMAX Some amazing lights over #Yellowknife tonight, #SpectacularNWT pic.twitter.com/HyuKZM7Y8r— Trent Peterson (@indefreq) September 20, 2015