The Aurora Borealis from Space

kaiserzeit · 2012-10-01T18:32:05+00:00

Cool-H · 2012-10-01T22:19:33+00:00

ENTIRELY LOCALISED WITHIN YOUR KITCHEN?!??!?

aveaida · 2012-10-02T00:09:48+00:00

They say it's the Aurora Borealis, but it's really the planet's Lifestream.

literal_reply_guy · 2012-10-01T23:19:20+00:00

The highest thing on my 'things to do before I die' list is see the Aurora Borealis in a remote area, preferably a forest clearing. Just lying down and taking it in. To me that seems like it would be such an awesome moment.

Exzentriker · 2012-10-02T01:58:15+00:00

Looks like the shield is still holding.

Space will have to try harder.

Idontlikethespacebar · 2012-10-01T20:29:52+00:00

Datatmosphere

luke1014 · 2012-10-01T23:26:31+00:00

Anyone have a bigger picture?

dagonsbane · 2012-10-02T00:00:56+00:00

SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!

leftsideofthelane · 2012-10-02T00:46:48+00:00

This is my favorite Mass Effect ending.

mike_dogg · 2012-10-02T00:27:56+00:00

There are MANY spectacular views from the ISS (International Space Station) For the space geeks out there here is the flicker account where they stitched the pictures taken to make the time lapse posted above. Enjoy! :)

JTrain17 · 2012-10-02T02:30:33+00:00

The Aurora Borealis in my kitchen

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltmvpe1aCy1qzr4e1o1_500.png

AppleTStudio · 2012-10-01T23:34:58+00:00

Looks like the Green Ending for Mass Effect 3, except way more beautiful because it's real!

Caboose727 · 2012-10-02T00:51:35+00:00

Science is beautiful.

BurningSquid · 2012-10-02T02:41:37+00:00

What I love is the fact that when you look at the Borealis, you are basically looking directly at the magnetosphere. If you can imagine this for a moment:

The sun releases a blast of solar wind with a ton of energy raging toward the earth, the part of the magnetosphere that is toward the sun valiantly absorbs the energy and actually slightly breaks off and "attaches" to the magnetic field of the sun.

The magnetic field then is pushed to the opposite side of the earth and "attached" to the part of the magnetosphere that is away from the sun. When this happens the field lines on the side opposite of the sun actually shift down and cause the field line closest to the earth to intersect with the earth itself. This causes particles to be disrupted and start colliding in the atmosphere causing what we see as the Borealis.

The interesting thing is that depending on the size of the solar wind you can get Borealis at extremely low latitudes. SCIENCE FUCK YEAH.

Source: Geophysics Student

CTbird86 · 2012-10-01T19:18:21+00:00

I participated in a sounding rocket launch into that aurora from Poker Flats AK

thinly_veiled · 2012-10-01T22:33:37+00:00

Anybody catch them last night? There was a decent show in northern MI.

Hampster_Man · 2012-10-01T23:44:00+00:00

The world's pretty neat sometimes.

delmar15 · 2012-10-02T00:01:07+00:00

I really want to know what the exposure time is on these pics. Anyone?

BunnieBonnie · 2012-10-02T00:04:15+00:00

Holy Shit, it's the Nexus! I need a trampoline!

bigglesxyz · 2012-10-02T00:10:30+00:00

Space is so fucking cool.

tmonz · 2012-10-02T00:20:59+00:00

Ridiculous.

theleospaceman · 2012-10-02T00:48:23+00:00

Wow, and I thought they couldn't get any more beautiful

n641026 · 2012-10-02T00:55:26+00:00

Hold on Marty, we've got to go Back to the Future! Great Scott!

mrarroyo · 2012-10-02T01:01:29+00:00

Who needs Windows Vista?

kazooie5659 · 2012-10-02T01:29:16+00:00

Scumbag Tron. Riding his lightcycle around Earth.

skm0525 · 2012-10-02T01:50:55+00:00

WOW COOL!!

someguy73 · 2012-10-02T01:53:30+00:00

Haha, look everyone, it's the Sun trying to murder us.

logarythm · 2012-10-02T01:55:30+00:00

It's trapar! Time to break out the LFOs :D

trauma_kmart · 2012-10-02T02:02:36+00:00

I think this should belong in r/spaceporn

psykikduk · 2012-10-02T02:26:43+00:00

/r/spaceporn would love this.

Someone wanna x-post? I'm on mobile and its a little tricky.

WalkinHawkin · 2012-10-02T02:29:05+00:00

Its weird knowing I am in this video.

StrugglingStrap-On · 2012-10-02T02:30:10+00:00

So much Dust!

essbeezee · 2012-10-02T02:30:25+00:00

The Aurora Borealis...... from Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace! FTFY

AndSoItWasWritten · 2012-10-02T02:32:15+00:00

I want this to be real and untouched so bad. Please can some throw some proof on me.

PreyingLions · 2012-10-02T02:32:23+00:00

Last the the Northern Lights were extremely visible for the better part of 5 hours. Absolutely beautiful to see. It's like fire dancing in the sky.

Quazijoe · 2012-10-02T02:33:03+00:00

Shields at 30% captain!

LaymanF · 2012-10-02T02:49:42+00:00

First thought was Avada Kedavra. Time to get a new book...

nelo2423 · 2012-10-02T02:49:44+00:00

props to fuckinghomepage.com! go check it out!

thesilverblade · 2012-10-02T03:01:06+00:00

Amazing photo. Bravo OP for getting this out there.

Phumos · 2012-10-02T04:13:11+00:00

Wall-E Shat bricks.

exxx19 · 2012-10-02T04:21:47+00:00

Aurora Borealis comes in vieeewwww, Aurora comes in vieeeeww

ironicouch · 2012-10-02T04:21:58+00:00

Holy crap. Look at that. We sit on our asses all day complaning about crap when things like this are out there being so awesome.

Anderlan · 2012-10-02T05:00:23+00:00

Earth from orbit, Borealis, all kinds of ISS hardware, these cupola shots are nerdgasm overload!

CompactedPrism · 2012-10-02T05:49:39+00:00

I can't think of Aurora Borealis without thinking A Flock Of Seagulls, and to this day, I have no idea why.

Chemzoar · 2012-10-02T06:01:14+00:00

Holy fuck.

seaisforsailors · 2012-10-02T06:04:18+00:00

Beautiful. But I hope nobody flies through it... The langoliers might get them.

rindanman · 2012-10-02T06:05:04+00:00

Fucking shopped.

Radbard · 2012-10-02T06:09:59+00:00

That is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

SLICK_EDITOR · 2012-10-02T06:11:53+00:00

First thought:

How can anybody look at this picture and still be religious.

leamdav · 2012-10-01T22:34:17+00:00

What the What!! That's amazing!

jamesave · 2012-10-01T23:31:44+00:00

Is the aurora borealis also happened on another planet?

PoliticallyConcerned · 2012-10-02T00:29:35+00:00

I posted the exact picture months ago and got maybe 20 upvotes. I don't understand this site.

Osskyw · 2012-10-01T22:07:58+00:00

whitewater09 · 2012-10-02T00:00:35+00:00

So... it looks the same as from Earth.

TubePincher · 2012-10-02T00:28:06+00:00

So that's where Skyrim is set.

zzt711 · 2012-10-02T00:32:29+00:00

Looks totally like CGI image for some sci-fi film, although it isnt.

How cool :)

penneezy · 2012-10-02T00:49:26+00:00

Am I the only one?

http://imgur.com/lE4uM

imdointhisforyou · 2012-10-02T03:11:10+00:00

GOD is great

SophieH · 2012-10-01T22:36:05+00:00

actually no, that's the Aurora Australis. (well, I can't tell, but there's a 50/50 chance I'm right!)

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