![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/zUXve2HBNFVENUtk9hLh2a.jpg\")
\n<\/p>\n
Earth’s night side is wreathed in colorful auroras in a new smartphone image captured from the ISS. (Image credit: Anil Menon, NASA)<\/p>\n
NASA astronaut Anil Menon captured a gorgeous view of the northern lights dancing over the night side of Earth from the International Space Station<\/a> on Oct. 10 using an iPhone camera.<\/p>\n What is it?<\/p>\n Menon’s photo<\/a> reveals spectacular pink, purple and red auroras<\/a> glowing in Earth’s upper atmosphere above a sparse dappling of city lights, subtly blurred by the motion of the orbital spacecraft over the course of the exposure.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bright stars<\/a> glimmer between the solar panels and outer hulls of the ISS and visiting spacecraft, painted purple by the auroral display. “Flying through is rare and amazing,” Menon wrote in a separate aurora video he posted to X<\/a> on Oct. 10. “You can see the lights on the outside of [the] station reflecting back like Christmas LEDs. It’s definitely more immersive.”<\/p>\n Why is it amazing?<\/p>\n Menon captured the auroras during a period of heightened geomagnetic activity, after several coronal mass ejections (CMEs) struck Earth’s magnetic field, triggering geomagnetic storms ranging from minor (G1) to strong (G3) over the weekend.<\/p>\n During geomagnetic storms, more charged particles are accelerated along Earth’s magnetic field lines toward the polar regions, where they collide with gases in the upper atmosphere; they excite them, causing them to release energy as light and producing spectacular auroral displays.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n The blue-purple colors seen in Menon’s image are largely produced by nitrogen at altitudes of around 60-120 miles (100-200 kilometers) , while the red hue comes from oxygen atoms higher up, typically above 125 miles (200 kilometers).<\/p>\n The photo is particularly impressive because it was captured on an iPhone camera, as opposed to the more traditional Nikon cameras<\/a> that astronauts sometimes use to capture Earth during their time aboard the ISS.<\/p>\n Smartphone astrophotography has become increasingly popular over recent years, with some models<\/a> now featuring bespoke modes for capturing the night sky. iPhones were even used by the astronauts of the Artemis 2<\/a> mission to document their historic flyby of the moon<\/a> earlier this year!<\/p>\n<\/p>\n