NASA shares 'spectacular' aurora pictures above the Indian ocean from International Space Station

NASA has revealed the most recent photographs obtained from the International Space Station of the southern lights, or Aurora Australis, over the Indian Ocean near Antarctica. Bob Hines, a pilot who is now stationed on the International Space Station (ISS), is the one who took the image of the auroras.

Also, READ: NASA gears up to debut SLS mission ‘Artemis I’ in deep space on Aug 29

 

 

 

 

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According to NASA, light shows at the North and South Poles are created by the collision of solar particles ejected by the Sun with Earth's magnetic field. In most cases, the Earthling population won't even notice these interactions since they're so little. Enormous solar storms, known as coronal mass ejections, cause the Sun to release large bubbles of electrified gas that crash with our magnetic field near the North and South Poles and then make their way into our atmosphere.

Once these charged solar particles enter the atmosphere, they collide with gases, releasing a spectacular light show. Image captionSolar particles colliding with air oxygen produce the vibrant reds and greens seen here. On the other hand, when these particles smash with nitrogen in Earth's atmosphere, they produce brilliant blue and purple flashes.

Auroras have been seen on other planets. Auroras, as observed earlier on Jupiter, are a definite evidence that a planet has an atmosphere and a magnetic field.