Stunning time lapse video of the International Space Station flying over the Aurora Australis. 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 acquired on September 11, 2011 as the ISS orbit pass descended over eastern Australia.
In northern latitudes, the effect is known as the Aurora Borealis (or the northern lights). Named after the Roman goddess of dawn, Aurora, and the Greek name for the north wind, Boreas, by Pierre Gassendi in 1621. Auroras seen near the magnetic pole may be high overhead, but from farther away, they illuminate the northern horizon as a greenish glow or sometimes a faint red, as if the Sun were rising from an unusual direction. The aurora borealis most often occurs near the equinoxes.
Its southern counterpart, the Aurora Australis (or the southern lights) which are seen in this video, has almost identical features to the Aurora Borealis and changes simultaneously with changes in the northern auroral zone and is visible from high southern latitudes in Antarctica, South America and Australia.
Auroras are associated with the solar wind, a flow of ions continuously flowing outward from the Sun. The Earth's magnetic field traps these particles, many of which travel toward the poles where they are accelerated toward Earth. Collisions between these ions and atmospheric atoms and molecules cause energy releases in the form of auroras appearing in large circles around the poles. Auroras are more frequent and brighter during the intense phase of the solar cycle whencoronal mass ejections increase the intensity of the solar wind.
The original footage is only 12 to 15 seconds long so I looped it three times so you can enjoy without having to replay such a short video. If you like this video, kindly use the share buttons or embed code provided by YouTube.
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