NASA Astronaut Chronicles Southern Lights From ISS

NASA astronaut Christina Koch has captured a mesmerizing image of the Southern Lights or Aurora Australis for the International Space Station (ISS). The image was captured during one of the space station's 15 orbits of the planets.

The ISS orbits around our planet about 15 times every day, and it takes the space lab 90 minutes to complete a full circle. The frequent orbits of the ISS allow astronauts to take some stunning images from space.

The new images posted by Christina Koch shows the Southern Lights in full glory. These polar lights are colorful streams of excited gas that exists in the upper parts of the atmosphere. The astronaut tweeted the image with the caption:

"Years ago at the South Pole, I looked up to the Aurora for inspiration through the 6-month winter night. Now I know they're just as awe-inspiring from above. #nofilter"

When charged particles in the solar winds interact with oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere, the gas at high altitudes gets excited to a point where they start glowing in different shades of green, yellow, blue, red, and violet. The North Pole witnesses a similar phenomenon called Aurora Borealis or Nothern Lights.

NASA said: "The dancing lights of the aurora provide spectacular views on the ground but also capture the imagination of scientists who study incoming energy and particles from the Sun."

Previously, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured a breathtaking image of the NGC 7773 galaxy which is located 357 million light years away from our planet in the Pegasus constellation.

The galaxy is similar to our Milky Way, as it is also a barred spiral galaxy. A bar of bright light in the center of the galaxy is visible. It is basically a structure of gas and dust where star formation occurs.

NASA also released an astounding X-ray image showing the entire night sky over a span of 22-months, showing a celestial fireworks display. The latest NASA image was chronicled using the Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER).