Thus looks a northern light visit from the International Space Station

The intense activity of the sun continues to manifest itself in the Earth’s atmosphere. Don Pettit, one of the astronauts currently aboard the International Space Station (EEI), has gone viral after capturing his privileged view on a green and dynamic northern light.

The northern and southern lights appear in the sky when the solar wind, composed of electrons and protons, interacts with the earth’s magnetic field. The loaded particles from the Sun collide with the atoms and molecules of the gases in the earth’s atmosphere. This collision near the poles causes the release of energy in the form of light, usually green or blue, which can be observed with the naked eye.

When the sun increases its activity towards the end of its cycle, the auroras are observed with greater intensity on the earth. In 2024 and 2025 the 25th cycle of the Sun will end. Therefore, in recent months anomalous climatic phenomena have appeared, such as the existence of auroras in territories such as Spain or Mexico.

The EEI orbits the earth at an average distance of 400 kilometers on the surface. Also called “North Lights” appear at an altitude that ranges between 100 and 300 kilometers. One of the favorite hobbies of Astronaut Don Pettit aboard the station is astrophotography. It had to spend very little time for this combination of factors to emerge spectacular shots of the earth’s atmosphere.

The image was published on January 4. Days before the Sun issued some important particles after the generation of a coronal hole. Space climate monitoring systems warned that there would be high probability of northern lights. Don Pettit prepared his camera looking for another impressive angle. The green of the video means that the particles loaded from the sun are colliding with oxygen atoms.

The astronaut has gained popularity for his photographs to historical comets and cities from space. For example, it was the one who took the photo of the nickname “Comet of the century”, Tsuchinshan-Atlas and also of the recent Atlas C2024-G3 object. He currently shares space with six other astronauts. Two of them are “trapped” and waiting for a vehicle that collects them after their ship built by Boeing presented technical failures.