Over the weekend astronauts on board the International Space Station witnessed incredible scenes of the Aurora Australis, a natural light phenomena native to Australia.
Astronaut Scott Kelly tweeted photos of the natural light show, over what marked his 141st and 142nd days in space.
Astrologists said the weekend’s dark and wintry weather conditions made for optimal viewing of the Aurora Australis.
“The strength of this Aurora was also helped by the fact that the Sun is just at ‘peak’ in it’s 11-year solar cycle, meaning plenty of wild outbursts that slam into the Earth’s magnetic field and cause the aurora,” Swinburne University researcher at the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing Alan Duffy told The ABC.
Here are the photos.
#Aurora trailing a colorful veil over Earth this morning. Good morning from @space_station! #YearInSpacepic.twitter.com/q7C7R5D6fu
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) August 15, 2015Another pass through #Aurora. The sun is very active today, apparently. #YearInSpacepic.twitter.com/1uDtRzrGuY
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) August 15, 2015Day 142. Weekend is fading, but #Aurora is not. Good night from @space_station! #YearInSpacepic.twitter.com/rZAkTmQClF
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) August 17, 2015Day 141. The chapter of a day ends as it began. #Aurora on a sunrise. Good night from @space_station! #YearInSpacehttps://t.co/hZBMs9q0CS
— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) August 15, 2015Join the conversation about this story »
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