Flying Through an Aurora at More Than 17,000 MPH

A prolific photographer gives us a stunning view from aboard the International Space Station

By Jeremy Hsu Posted 04.05.2010 at 4:17 pm 4 Comments

Blazing Aurora All aboard the magic school bus, kids! Soichi Noguchi

Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi has always served up amazing images via his Twitter account, but his latest is worth special note. The International Space Station resident took a long-exposure shot of an aurora in the Earth's atmosphere.

Auroras are natural light shows that result from solar wind particles flowing down toward the planet's poles. The Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, takes place in the northern hemisphere.

"Fly through Aurora at 28,000kmh. Happy 1,000 tweets :-)" Noguchi tweeted today.

Noguchi has gained even more photo opportunities with the addition of an observation deck to the space station back in February. But when he's not roaming around with camera in hand, he has also proved one skillful sushi chef in microgravity.

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4 Comments

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SJak

04/05/10 at 4:29 pm

Simply stunning.

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trireme

04/05/10 at 4:34 pm

Wish I were up there!

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GregNJ

04/05/10 at 7:54 pm

patscowindshieldrepair damaged my windshield

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