Astronaut shows Aurora Borealis viewed from space and images go viral (Photo: X)
Astronaut Don Pettit appeared on his social media to share a video showing what the Aurora Borealis looks like from space.
The NASA astronaut posted the short clip on his X (formerly Twitter) profile. In the video, you can see the beautiful green lights hovering over Earth.
Pettit is aboard the International Space Station, having launched on September 11th of last year for a six-month mission. However, the clip raised doubts among netizens.
While some claimed they didn’t know the Aurora Borealis was “so low,” others accused the video of being generated by artificial intelligence.
But according to NASA, green auroras typically occur in a space in the sky between 96 and 240 kilometers from the surface, but auroras can occur as low as 80 kilometers from the ground at their lowest point.
Meanwhile, the International Space Station is 408 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, making it the perfect altitude to view a green aurora from above.
Red auroras, on the other hand, occur from 200 to nearly 400 kilometers from the surface, but even then, the ISS is high enough for its crew to observe the phenomenon from above.
Flying over aurora; intensely green. pic.twitter.com/leUufKFnBB
— Don Pettit (@astro_Pettit) January 6, 2025
Photo and video: X @astro_pettit. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
