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The Southern Lights \u2013 credit, Jessica Meir, screengrab via X<\/p>\n The Southern Lights \u2013 credit, Jessica Meir, screengrab via X<\/p>\n
From the SpaceX Dragon capsule high above the Earth, astronaut Jessica Meir was left stunned and moved by what she was witnessing.<\/p>\n
As our own blue marble spun around to show its white underbelly, a blast of solar wind had ignited the Southern Lights, or Aurora Australis, which spread out from Antarctica before snaking and scintillating its way across the South Pole.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs opposed to the previous aurora I\u2019ve seen, this one danced and snaked its way directly below us, putting on quite a show,\u201d Meir wrote on X. \u201cI am in awe of this ethereal and emotionally evocative phenomenon.\u201d<\/p>\n
As with all aurorae, the Aurora Australis occurs when large amounts of charged particles expelled by our Sun strike the Earth\u2019s magnetosphere. The particles move to the magnetic poles where they concentrate, energizing endemic elements in the atmosphere. The result is a discharge of energy that turn the oxygen and nitrogen into plasma that glows and glitters in the night sky.<\/p>\n
Though the Earth is constantly being bombarded by solar radiation, occasional large bursts, such as from solar events like coronal mass ejections, cause more dramatic and wider aurorae at the north and south poles.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe auroras\u2019 colors give clues to which gases are involved and where the interactions are taking place,\u201d writes<\/a> Sara Hashemi at Smithsonian Magazine.<\/p>\n \u201cGreen lights, for instance, come from interactions with oxygen at lower altitudes, around 60 to 180 miles above the surface, while red lights can indicate oxygen at higher altitudes.\u201d<\/p>\n MORE AURORA GLIMPSES: James Webb Telescope Reveals New Details and Mysteries Hidden in Jupiter\u2019s Own \u2018Northern Lights\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n Meir was in the Dragon capsule after arriving at the International Space Station in February for an 8-month mission to conduct experiments related to human biology and medicine in space, including the effects of pneumonia-causing bacteria, and how to make IV fluid from scratch.<\/p>\n On June 5th, she and NASA astronaut Chris Williams took shelter in the capsule on the Agency\u2019s orders while their Roscosmos colleagues worked to find and fix an air leak on their side of the station.<\/p>\n ALSO CHECK OUT: Humanity\u2019s Long-Awaited Return to Lunar Space Captured with Brilliant Photographs Aboard Artemis II<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThere is a lot going on right now on the @Space_Station,\u201d Meir wrote in a social media\u00a0post<\/a> on June 6. \u201cBut fortunately, we are all safe and witnessed a spectacular southern aurora show yesterday thanks to a recent solar event.\u201d<\/p>\n WATCH the video below\u2026\u00a0<\/p>\n A timelapse view from our @SpaceX<\/a> Dragon of the spectacular southern aurora seen in yesterday\u2019s post, a result of a recent solar event. As opposed to the previous aurora I\u2019ve seen, this one danced and snaked its way directly below us, putting on quite a show. I am in awe of this\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/ReztjH3x9H<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Jessica Meir (@Astro_Jessica) June 7, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n SHARE This Stunning Reminder Of The Beauty Of Our Planet\u2026 <\/p>\n