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This video of the Aurora Australis was created from a sequence of still shots taken by astronauts on board the International Space Station. The images were taken on September 11, 2011 as the ISS orbit pass descended over eastern Australia. Like its northern hemisphere counterpart the Aurora Borealis, the Aurora Australis occurs when ions in the solar wind collide with atoms of oxygen and nitrogen in the upper atmosphere. Atoms excited by these collisions emit light as they return to their original energy level, creating the visible aurora.
See more about this video at NASA’s ISS website.
See a similar recent video (without the aurora), which gives a great perspective of what it is like to fly over the Earth in the ISS.
About Nancy Atkinson
Nancy Atkinson is Universe Today's Senior Editor. She also is the host of the NASA Lunar Science Institute podcast and works with the Astronomy Cast and 365 Days of Astronomy podcasts. Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador.
