In the upper layers of the Earth’s atmosphere, the aurora borealis and Airglow, the most colourful atmospheric phenomena were recorded from the ISS.
Shortly before dawn on March 16, two phenomena simultaneously occurred in the sky above the Earth – the Northern Lights and the airglow. This was reported by NASA on Wednesday, August 19, on the social network Instagram.
It is noted that the astronauts photographed the unusual phenomenon during the ISS flyby over southern Alaska.
In the photo, beams of aurora borealis, green with a red tint at the top, cross the pale red-yellow ribbon of the sky glow. At the same time, the rising sun adds a dark blue color to the horizon line.
In addition, city lights in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta are visible at the bottom of the image, the agency said.
“Aurora and airglow are produced by different physical processes. Airglow is the emission of light from chemical interactions between oxygen, nitrogen, and other molecules in the upper atmosphere. Auroras, on the other hand, stem from interactions between solar energy and Earth’s magnetic field,” explained by NASA.
Earlier, astronomers of the European Space Agency recorded a green glow in the atmosphere of Mars. The most intense aurora is observed at an altitude of 80 kilometres above the planet’s surface.
