Even after several months in orbit, Earth is still capable of surprising those who see it every day from space.
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, currently aboard the International Space Station, spoke about the most impressive natural phenomena they have managed to observe from an altitude of about 400 kilometers.
And unexpectedly, the main spectacle for them turned out not to be eclipses, but auroras. 🌌
Green waves beneath the station
According to Jessica Meir, the crew was particularly impressed by a powerful aurorathat occurred after a burst of solar activity.
Usually, auroras are concentrated closer to the poles, but that time, the bright green glow appeared almost directly beneath the International Space Station.
From orbit, it looked like a huge glowing ribbon winding over the Earth's surface.
The green light was so bright that it even reflected off the white structures of the station.
For people who see sunrises, oceans, clouds, and city lights from orbit every day, such a sight still proved to be special.
They also saw an eclipse
On 12 August the ISS crew observed a solar eclipse.
The station was not in the zone of totality, so the astronauts saw only part of the event: the Moon covered a portion of the solar disk.
And yet, the opportunity to observe the Moon moving across the Sun, not from the Earth's surface but directly from space, is a rarity in itself.
Now the crew hopes to see the next one from orbit as well lunar eclipse.
A view one can never get used to
Astronauts' stories serve as a particularly good reminder of one simple thing: even the most experienced people, having worked in space for months, never cease to be amazed by the beauty of our planet.
Auroras occur when charged particles from the solar wind interact with Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere.
From the surface, we see them as green, red, and violet bands in the sky.
But from orbit, the picture is entirely different.
The aurora transforms into a massive glowing structure that seems to embrace the edge of the planet and moves along with the atmosphere.
And it is precisely this kind of view that can make even someone for whom space has long been a workplace stop in their tracks.
We are used to looking at the stars from below. But sometimes the most beautiful cosmic landscapes are revealed when you look from above—at our own Earth.
