Green Aurora Seen from the Space Station

Credit: Credit: NASA, Posted on: Friday, 22 August 2003, 06:00 CDT Download full size image

Green colors of the aurora are dominant in this image captured by a digital still camera from the ISS. Auroras are caused when high-energy electrons pour down from the Earth’s magnetosphere and collide with atoms. Green aurora occurs from about 100 km to 250 km altitude and is caused by the emission of 5577 Angstrom wavelength light from oxygen atoms. The light is emitted when the atoms return to their original unexcited state.

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