Aurora Australis Steals the Show From Space Station Above Earth

When astronaut Jessica Meir strapped into the SpaceX Dragon capsule 250 miles above Earth, she wasn’t expecting to witness one of nature’s most spectacular light shows dancing directly beneath her. But that’s exactly what happened when a recent solar event unleashed a torrent of charged particles into our atmosphere, igniting the Aurora Australis—the Southern Lights—in all their ethereal glory.

Meir’s vantage point offered something most ground-based observers will never experience: an overhead, real-time view of the phenomenon unfolding in a timelapse that captures the otherworldly green glow snaking and shimmering across the Antarctic region. As opposed to the previous aurora she’d seen, this one danced and snaked its way directly below us, putting on quite a show, she noted on social media, adding that she was in awe of this ethereal and emotionally evocative phenomenon.

Here’s what’s actually happening when those lights paint the sky: charged particles ejected by our Sun slam into Earth’s magnetosphere, funneling toward the magnetic poles where they collide with oxygen and nitrogen molecules in the upper atmosphere. That collision energizes these gases, turning them into glowing plasma—think of it like nature’s neon sign, powered by the Sun itself. Green lights, the most common color, come from oxygen interactions around 60 to 180 miles up, while red hues indicate oxygen at higher altitudes. The specific color palette tells scientists exactly which gases are involved and where the interactions are taking place.

Meir arrived at the International Space Station in February for an eight-month mission focused on human biology research in microgravity, including studies on pneumonia-causing bacteria and IV fluid production in space. On June 5th, she and NASA astronaut Chris Williams sheltered in the Dragon capsule on agency orders while their Roscosmos colleagues addressed an air leak on the station’s Russian segment—a reminder that even astronauts have to pause for maintenance. But nothing could dampen the wonder of witnessing one of Earth’s most humbling natural phenomena from humanity’s outpost in space.

What strikes you most about watching this cosmic dance from above versus from the ground?