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Oh my. The aurora borealis, seen in ultraviolet light from space. Our planet, putting on a show ✨

This is a video from the joint European–Chinese SMILE (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) mission, which launched in May. The video was taken over 58 minutes in July, and shows the northern aurorae pulse and move and wax and wane in response to solar wind particles hitting Earth.

30/9/26, 5:16 pm2 reposts59 likes

Paul Byrne

@theplanetaryguy.com

The scene is in ultraviolet (processed to be visible to us), and shows the sunlit face of Earth. The bright points moving in the background are distant stars, emitting light here in the UV. Read more: www.esa.int/Science_Expl... Video credit: ESA & CAS/Smile/UVI