Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti has captured awe-inspiring photographs of the aurora australis from aboard the International Space Station.
The aurora australis with the ISS in the foreground | Samantha Cristoforetti
Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti this week posted awe-inspiring photographs of the aurora australis from aboard the International Space Station .-style photos with the ISS in full view.“Last week we saw the most stunning aurora I have ever experienced in over 300 days in space.” Similar to the northern lights, the aurora australis is known as the southern lights and occur when high-energy particles stream off the sun and rain down on Earth where they interact with magnetic fields that guide them toward the north and south poles.
Cristoforetti is right to say that our nearest star has been really active recently, the Sun has been releasing intense bursts of radiation arising from the explosive releases of magnetic energy. The geomagnetic storms produce color aurora lights but can cause issues to spacecraft and communications.