Life can be stressful, busy, and nowadays way too hot. But don’t all that get you down and make you forget that life can also be tremendously beautiful. And if you already did, don’t worry — this video of the aurora borealis shot by astronauts from the ISS will help you remember.
Image via Max Pixel.
The northern lights, or aurora borealis, are a dazzling light show that charged particles hitting the Earth’s magnetic field sometimes put on. Conditions have to be just right: you need a strong enough gust of solar wind slamming into the magnetosphere to pass their energy to atmospheric gases (mostly nitrogen and oxygen), ionizing them into these intricately shaped rivers of light.
Breathtaking on the ground, the northern lights are simply amazing when seen from outside the bounds of our planet. On June 25, members of ISS’ Expedition 52 had a chance to see the aurora borealis from up high, while zipping past at 17,150 mph.
Luckily for us land-locked mortals, they also had their cameras ready. So sit back, pop your earphones, take a break from worrying about that deadline and enjoy the light show for a few relaxing minutes — we’ve all earned it on a Wednesday afternoon.
Enjoyed this article? Join 40,000+ subscribers to the ZME Science newsletter. Subscribe now!
