Drop everything right now and check out this amazing video of the Aurora Borealis taken from the space station

Amazing video from the space station shows the aurora borealis shining from above

By Saima S. Iqbal

A violent but harmless solar storm slammed into Earth over the weekend, producing a series of twinkling auroras centered on the North and South Poles. In the Northern Hemisphere, blue, green, and pink lights danced all the way from Texas to Mississippi, and astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured the spectacle from above in a mesmerizing time-lapse video that also included the moon and a sunrise.

Although the storm has subsided, people in Canada and other northern locations may still see flashes of color in the night sky. A large group of sunspots may move into Earth’s field of view this weekend, producing solar flares and continued auroral activity.

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This latest aurora was caused by a barrage of five solar explosions called coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which are spontaneous jets of magnetized plasma that can hurtle toward Earth and disrupt the planet’s magnetic field. The resulting solar storm then produces charged particles that collide with elements in Earth’s atmosphere to produce the aurora, such as reactions with atomic oxygen that produce red or green light.

Solar storms don’t just produce auroras. They can shake satellites, short out internet cables, and overwhelm power grids. The latest storm reached G4, or “violent,” intensity at its peak, one notch lower than the May storm, which was well-managed but hampered satellite operators and disrupted GPS-guided farm equipment. The scale that space weather experts use to rate solar storms ranges from G1 (minor) to G5 (extreme), with both G4 and G5 events being rare. For both the May storm and this latest one, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned major power grid operators and air traffic controllers of the potential technical impacts so they could implement protective measures such as radiation shields and backup systems. As a result, critical infrastructure appears to have weathered this latest storm unscathed.

“Most space weather events, even the most extreme ones, can be successfully mitigated,” said Sean Dahl, a space weather forecaster at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. “People can watch the aurora, enjoy the beautiful show, and focus on the spectacle, not the outcome.”

NASA astronaut Matthew Dominik trained his camera through a window in the space station’s cupola to get a view. In his video, the bright fuchsia and pale green aurora borealis ripples across the planet’s surface. The moon appears in the background, and then the sun rises, casting a blue glow over the Soyuz spacecraft. “It’s amazing,” Dominik said in a phone call from the ISS. Scientific American He said he’s been working on the technology to capture time-lapse videos for some time and is excited to show people what the breathtaking aurora looks like from space. “It was intense.“ Dominic said. “I’m here with several veterans who have spent more than a year in space through their missions., And everyone agreed‘I’ve never seen anything like this.“

Those hoping to see the aurora in person, albeit from the ground, should check the Space Weather Prediction Center’s 30-minute aurora forecast and watch late at night, away from urban areas, to avoid the light pollution that can obscure the auroras. The best viewing locations are near the Earth’s poles, and the auroras are usually at their brightest within an hour or two of midnight (between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. local time). Digital cameras can sometimes capture faint lights that are invisible to the naked eye, Dahl adds.

If you missed the aurora this week, you’ll still have a chance to see it in the future. Scientists predict that several powerful solar storms will rock the Earth over the next two years as the Sun enters the “maximum” of its 11-year magnetic cycle. At the peak of the cycle, solar explosions, such as coronal mass ejections, could occur as many as two or three times a day. The increased activity increases the chances of solar storms and their byproducts: spectacular auroras and potential technology disruption.

Additional reporting by Kelso Harper.