Starship Asterisk*

The Aurora and the Sunrise

Explanation: On the International Space Station (ISS), you can only admire an aurora until the sun rises. Then the background Earth becomes too bright. Unfortunately, after sunset, the rapid orbit of the ISS around the Earth means that sunrise is usually less than 47 minutes away. In the featured image, a green aurora is visible below the ISS -- and on the horizon to the upper right, while sunrise approaches ominously from the upper left. Watching an aurora from space can be mesmerizing as its changing shape has been compared to a giant green amoeba. Auroras are composed of energetic electrons and protons from the Sun that impact the Earth's magnetic field and then spiral down toward the Earth so fast that they cause atmospheric atoms and molecules to glow. The ISS orbits at nearly the same height as auroras, many times flying right through an aurora's thin upper layers, an event that neither harms astronauts nor changes the shape of the aurora.

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Any guesses what the land mass is underneath? Iceland?

CURRAHEE CHRIS wrote: ↑Tue May 01, 2018 1:30 pm Any guesses what the land mass is underneath? Iceland?

Looks like Green Land, but that could just be a reflection of the aurora.

GoshOGeeOGolly wrote: ↑Tue May 01, 2018 4:23 pm

CURRAHEE CHRIS wrote: ↑Tue May 01, 2018 1:30 pm Any guesses what the land mass is underneath? Iceland?

Looks like Green Land, but that could just be a reflection of the aurora.

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/the-aurora-and-the-sunrise wrote: "Sunrise crashes an aurora party over the southern hemisphere," said astronaut Ricky Arnold of the image he snapped from the International Space Station.

Does this remind anyone of Gaia's lifestreams?