Earth Aurora | International Space Station

Earth Aurora | International Space Station

NASA astronaut and flight engineer Josh Cassada captured this picture of aurora activity on Earth from the International Space Station on Feb. 28, 2023.

Auroras are produced when the Earth's magnetosphere is sufficiently disturbed by the solar wind that the trajectories of charged particles in both solar wind and magnetospheric plasma, mainly in the form of electrons and protons, precipitate them into the upper atmosphere (thermosphere/exosphere) due to Earth's magnetic field, where their energy is lost. The resulting ionization and excitation of atmospheric constituents emits light of varying color and complexity. [Wikipedia]

Learn more: 

The Colors of the Aurora (National Park Service)

https://www.nps.gov/articles/-articles-aps-v8-i1-c9.htm

NASA - About Aurora

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/aurora-news-stories/index.html

Follow Expedition 68 crew updates at: 

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 68 Crew

Station Commander: Sergey Prokopyev of Roscosmos (Russia)

Roscosmos (Russia): Flight Engineers Anna Kikina & Dmitri Petelin

NASA: Flight Engineers Nicole Mann, Frank Rubio & Josh Cassada

JAXA (Japan): Flight Engineer Koichi Wakata

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the  International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

Learn more about the important research being operated on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science 

For more information about STEM on Station:

https://www.nasa.gov/stemonstation

Science, Technology, Engineering, Math (STEM)

Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Image Date: Feb. 28, 2023

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