What is an aurora called when viewed from space?

Auroras: Same Amazing Light Show, Radically Different View From Space

Okay, so you know auroras, right? Those crazy beautiful light shows that paint the night sky? Most of us know them as the Northern Lights (aurora borealis) or the Southern Lights (aurora australis), and you usually have to be pretty far north or south to catch them. But have you ever wondered what they look like from way up high, like from space? Turns out, it’s still an aurora, just with a perspective that’ll blow your mind.

Basically, whether you’re bundled up in Iceland staring up at the sky, or floating around in the International Space Station, those shimmering lights are still called the aurora borealis if you’re in the northern hemisphere, and the aurora australis down south. Simple as that!

But here’s the thing: seeing it from space? That’s a whole different ballgame. Instead of craning your neck to look up, astronauts and satellites get this incredible side-on or top-down view. Imagine seeing the whole thing at once! From that vantage point, the aurora looks like this luminous crown, or a ring, just chilling around Earth’s poles. Seriously stunning.

So, what makes these light shows happen anyway? Well, it all starts with the sun. It constantly sends out this stream of charged particles called the solar wind. When that wind hits Earth’s magnetic field, things get interesting. The particles get funneled towards the poles, and when they crash into atoms and molecules way up in the atmosphere – we’re talking 80 kilometers (50 miles) or higher – boom! Light show! It’s like a giant, cosmic neon sign.

And the colors? Those depend on what kind of gas is getting smacked around and how high up it is. Oxygen gives off green and red, while nitrogen goes for blue and purple. That super common green color? That’s oxygen doing its thing lower down.

What’s really cool is that Earth isn’t the only planet that gets auroras. Any planet with an atmosphere and a magnetic field can join the party! We’ve spotted them on Jupiter, Saturn, even Mars and Venus. Each planet’s aurora is unique, depending on what its atmosphere is made of and how its magnetic field is shaped. Talk about a cosmic light show across the solar system!

Thankfully, we don’t have to be astronauts to appreciate the view from above. Satellites and the folks on the ISS are constantly snapping pics and videos of auroras from space. These shots aren’t just pretty; they help us understand how the Sun and Earth interact. NASA even has a whole online gallery dedicated to astronaut photography of Earth, where you can find some seriously amazing aurora shots.

Whether you’re seeing them from Earth or space, auroras are a total wonder. From space, they give you this global view of how our planet connects to the Sun. It’s a mind-blowing reminder that we’re all part of something much bigger, a dynamic solar system where even light itself puts on a show.