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Astronauts from International Space Station Share Breathtaking Photos of Earth's Aurora Glowing

Busayo Ogunjimi
Jan 28, 2021
08:50 P.M.

Be it the ocean, the landscape, or the atmosphere, the Earth revels in unparalleled splendor. In recent social media posts, astronauts from the International Space Station blew people away with the most breathtaking shots of the Earth's aurora.

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The Earth exists in unrivaled beauty. However, not everyone gets to see it from outer space, but those who do, often remember to share the experience. In a recent Instagram post, International Space Station astronauts gave a look at the Earth's aurora. They wrote:

"The space station's orbit takes it as high 51.6 degrees above the equator offering awe-inspiring views of the Earth's aurora."

A globe of the world | Photo: Getty Images

A globe of the world | Photo: Getty Images

The astronauts, who are part of the Expedition 64 crew, got to witness the breathtaking celestial light show from high up and beyond the Earth's atmosphere while they were orbiting about 263 miles above.

According to their caption, the aurora was captured in between the city lights and the twinkling stars for the perfect shots. The pictures of the incredible event were taken from several different angles, including over the North Atlantic, Russia, and Romania.

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The incredible pictures showed what appeared to be undulating curtains of ribbons of the most spectacular shades of green and blue hanging right over the horizon.

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The breathtaking phenomenon stood out from the human-made lights that paled in comparison to its natural magnificence. The Arctic circle and other Southern Hemisphere areas are the best spots to witness this extraordinary Earth phenomenon. It is even better from outer space.

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There are two types of Auroras — aurora borealis (the northern lights) and aurora australis(the southern lights). Both are the same mesmerizing phenomenon that simply occurs at different points — either the north or south magnetic poles of the Earth.

Auroras are light shows caused by the collision of electrically charged particles from the sun and particles of gases like oxygen and nitrogen, which are abundant in the Earth's atmosphere.

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Also referred to as the polar lights or the Earth's airglow, the auroras then form blankets over the horizon with electric colored lights after the cosmic rays from the sun, and the Earth interact.

Plenty of cascading reactions go into this singular event. It takes roughly two or three days for the sun's particles to reach the Earth. When they eventually arrive, the result is this stunning phenomenon. Thanks to the astronauts who take the brave journey to outer space, everyone else gets to see it.

Most recently, it was revealed that a crew of private astronauts will pay a whopping $55 million to venture to the International Space Station in the great cosmic unknown. This simply means more eyes from up there to share the beauty that the Earth has to offer.

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