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A Glowing Aurora Dances Beneath the International Space Station, Dazzling Astronauts
Meir said the display followed a recent solar event and showed emerald lights moving beneath the station.
On June 5, NASA astronaut Jessica Meir witnessed the Aurora Australis while sheltered in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft outside the International Space Station, capturing a timelapse of the lights she described as having "danced and snaked" below.
Southern Hemisphere auroras, known as Aurora Australis, occur when the Sun sends charged particles toward Earth during solar events, creating dynamic displays of magnetism that Meir called an "evocative phenomenon."
Meir and her SpaceX Crew-12 colleagues sheltered in the SpaceX Dragon on June 5 while The Russian agency attempted repairs on a worsening International Space Station air leak, positioning the astronaut to witness the display from the temporary refuge.
SpaceX Crew-12 astronauts safely returned to the International Space Station following the repair assessment, resuming their eight-month mission conducting experiments aimed at advancing research for future Mars exploration.
Space weather creates auroras across the solar system; Jupiter's auroras are estimated to be up to 1,000 times brighter than those on Earth, while NASA's Perseverance rover captured the first aurora image on Mars in 2024.
NASA astronaut Jessica Meir recorded an unusual video of an aurora austral while she was temporarily sheltered, along with other members of the Crew-12 mission, in a SpaceX Dragon capsule coupled to the International Space Station (EEI). “Unlike the auroras she had seen before, this danced and meandered directly beneath us, offering an extraordinary spectacle,” Meir wrote on social networks when sharing the images. “I am still amazed by this eth…