Photograph by ESA/NASA/Scott Kelly
Astronaut Scott Kelly recently snapped this amazing photo of aurora borealis over the pacific northwest. The photo was taken on January 20, 2016, while on board the International Space Station.
An aurora (astralis in the south and borealis in the north) is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude (Arctic and Antarctic) regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere (thermosphere). The charged particles originate in the magnetosphere and solar wind and, on Earth, are directed by the Earth’s magnetic field into the atmosphere. [source]
