Archive · 2 Sep 2025
Astronaut Captures Rare Red Aurora Video From Space
Imagine the sun shooting tiny, speedy bits towards Earth.
These bits get steered by a giant magnet around our planet, called the Earth's magnetic field.
When these bits bump into air in the sky, they make the air glow with colors like red, green, and blue.
This glowing air is called an aurora, like the Northern Lights.
An astronaut in space filmed a rare red aurora.
Red auroras are not often seen.
The sun sometimes has big explosions that send out even more of these speedy bits, making the auroras even brighter.
A NASA astronaut shared a video of a rare red aurora.
Auroras are caused by charged particles from the sun interacting with Earth's atmosphere.
The aurora phenomenon is also known as the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) and Southern Lights (Aurora Australis).
The video was taken from space.
Red auroras are rare, occurring a few times during a six-month mission.
- Who
- NASA astronaut Don Pettit
- What
- Shared a video of a rare red aurora
- When
- During a six-month mission to the International Space Station
- Where
- Above Earth, viewed from space
- Why
- To capture and share the rare sight of a red aurora
- Subject
- Rare red aurora
- Location
- Viewed from space
- Source
- Video shared by NASA astronaut Don Pettit
- Phenomenon
- Aurora Borealis/Australis
- Cause
- Interaction of solar particles with Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere