ISS029-E-6020
| NASA Photo ID | ISS029-E-6020 |
| Focal Length | 24mm |
| Date taken | 2011.09.17 |
| Time taken | 17:30:12 GMT |
Resolutions offered for this image:
1000 x 667 pixels 540 x 360 pixels 720 x 480 pixels 4256 x 2832 pixels 640 x 426 pixels
1000 x 667 pixels 540 x 360 pixels 720 x 480 pixels 4256 x 2832 pixels 640 x 426 pixels
Cloud masks available for this image:
Spacecraft nadir point: 50.7° S, 82.3° E
Photo center point:
Photo center point by machine learning:
Photo center point:
Photo center point by machine learning:
Nadir to Photo Center:
Spacecraft Altitude: 209 nautical miles (387km)
Country or Geographic Name: | PACIFIC OCEAN |
Features: | PAN-SOUTHERN OCEAN, AURORA AUSTRALIS, AIRGLOW, SOLAR PANELS, ISS HARDWARE |
| Features Found Using Machine Learning: | AURORA, PAN- |
Cloud Cover Percentage: | 75 (51-75)% |
Sun Elevation Angle: | -40° |
Sun Azimuth: | 198° |
Camera: | Nikon D3S Electronic Still Camera |
Focal Length: | 24mm |
Camera Tilt: | High Oblique |
Format: | 4256E: 4256 x 2832 pixel CMOS sensor, 36.0mm x 23.9mm, total pixels: 12.87 million, Nikon FX format |
Film Exposure: | |
| Additional Information | |
This photo is one of the photos used to create this time-lapse video:
| Width | Height | Annotated | Cropped | Purpose | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1000 pixels | 667 pixels | No | Yes | Earth From Space collection | Download Image |
| 540 pixels | 360 pixels | No | Yes | Earth From Space collection | Download Image |
| 720 pixels | 480 pixels | No | No | NASA's Earth Observatory web site | Download Image |
| 4256 pixels | 2832 pixels | No | No | Download Image | |
| 640 pixels | 426 pixels | No | No | Download Image |
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Image Caption: Fire in the Sky
And the skies of night were alive with light, with a throbbing, thrilling flame; Amber and rose and violet, opal and gold it came. It swept the sky like a giant scythe, it quivered back to a wedge; Argently bright, it cleft the night with a wavy golden edge. -- "The Ballad of the Northern Lights"
In describing auroras as he saw them in the far north in 1908, poet Robert Service captured the sense of fluid motion, the vivid color, and the fiery, flame-like qualities one sees from the ground. His description works just as well in the southern hemisphere and when looking down from above.
Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) used a digital camera to capture several hundred photographs of the aurora australis, or "southern lights," while passing over the Indian Ocean on September 17, 2011. Solar panels and other sections of the ISS fill some of the upper right side of the photograph.
Auroras are a spectacular sign that our planet is electrically and magnetically connected to the Sun. These light shows are provoked by energy from the Sun and fueled by electrically charged particles trapped in Earth's magnetic field, or magnetosphere. In this case, the space around Earth was stirred up by an explosion of hot, ionized gas from the Sun--a coronal mass ejection--that left the Sun on September 14, 2011.
The pressure and magnetic energy of the solar plasma stretches and twists the magnetic field of Earth like rubber bands, particularly in the tail on the night side. This energizes the particles trapped in our magnetic field; that energy is released suddenly as the field lines snap the particles down the field lines toward the north and south magnetic poles.
Fast-moving electrons collide with Earth's upper atmosphere, transferring their energy to oxygen and nitrogen molecules and making them chemically "excited." As the gases return to their normal state, they emit photons, small bursts of energy in the form of light. The color of light reflects the type of molecules releasing it; oxygen molecules and atoms tend to glow green, white or red, while nitrogen tends to be blue or purple. This ghostly light originates at altitudes of 100 to 400 kilometers (60 to 250 miles).
And the skies of night were alive with light, with a throbbing, thrilling flame; Amber and rose and violet, opal and gold it came. It swept the sky like a giant scythe, it quivered back to a wedge; Argently bright, it cleft the night with a wavy golden edge. -- "The Ballad of the Northern Lights"
In describing auroras as he saw them in the far north in 1908, poet Robert Service captured the sense of fluid motion, the vivid color, and the fiery, flame-like qualities one sees from the ground. His description works just as well in the southern hemisphere and when looking down from above.
Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) used a digital camera to capture several hundred photographs of the aurora australis, or "southern lights," while passing over the Indian Ocean on September 17, 2011. Solar panels and other sections of the ISS fill some of the upper right side of the photograph.
Auroras are a spectacular sign that our planet is electrically and magnetically connected to the Sun. These light shows are provoked by energy from the Sun and fueled by electrically charged particles trapped in Earth's magnetic field, or magnetosphere. In this case, the space around Earth was stirred up by an explosion of hot, ionized gas from the Sun--a coronal mass ejection--that left the Sun on September 14, 2011.
The pressure and magnetic energy of the solar plasma stretches and twists the magnetic field of Earth like rubber bands, particularly in the tail on the night side. This energizes the particles trapped in our magnetic field; that energy is released suddenly as the field lines snap the particles down the field lines toward the north and south magnetic poles.
Fast-moving electrons collide with Earth's upper atmosphere, transferring their energy to oxygen and nitrogen molecules and making them chemically "excited." As the gases return to their normal state, they emit photons, small bursts of energy in the form of light. The color of light reflects the type of molecules releasing it; oxygen molecules and atoms tend to glow green, white or red, while nitrogen tends to be blue or purple. This ghostly light originates at altitudes of 100 to 400 kilometers (60 to 250 miles).
