Josh Kassada, a NASA astronaut who is now aboard the International Space Station (ISS), photographed the green aurora. He shared a new picture on social networks.
The photo of the aurora was taken at an altitude of about 400 km above the Earth. In the picture, it extends for hundreds to thousands of kilometers around the poles of the planets.
Image courtesy of NASA/Josh Kassada
Aurora, also known polar or northern (innorthern hemisphere) auroras occur when charged particles emitted by the Sun collide with various molecules in the Earth's atmosphere. Solar particles ionize these molecules or remove electrons from them, causing the glow. Ionized oxygen molecules emit fluorescent greenish light, nitrogen molecules emit red or pinkish light, and hydrogen and helium molecules emit blue and violet light.
The Sun has been especially active lately.Two coronal mass ejections crashed into the Earth on February 26 and 27. This sudden influx of charged particles likely fueled the huge aurora that a NASA astronaut observed from space.
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