Auroras are perhaps the most spectacular natural light shows on Earth — and they look even more majestic from above. Also called the (aurora borealis) and southern lights (aurora australis), auroras occur when charged particles from the sun crash into our planet's atmosphere and ride its magnetic-field lines toward the poles. As they zip along, those particles knock into other molecules in the atmosphere, exciting them and causing them to emit vibrant colors that are visible to the naked eye.
Still, the full scope of this natural wonder is hard to take in from the ground. Here are 32 of the most spectacular aurora photos taken by astronauts in orbit, showcasing the incredible scale and unbelievable beauty of Earth's atmospheric lights. A green aurora slices through the Southern Hemisphere somewhere between Antarctica and Australia.
This vintage shot of the southern lights was captured in April 1985 by astronaut Robert F. Overmyer aboard the space shuttle Challenger. The northern lights swoop beneath a full moon as Moscow glows like a golden spider in the left of the frame.
This photo was taken in April 2014 by an Expedition 39 crewmember aboard the International Space Station (ISS). A vivid-green, nearly round aurora curls over the Southern Hemisphere like an enormous serpent. This exquisite photo was taken with NASA's IMAGE satellite in September 2005 from its orbit more than 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) over Earth.
A green-and-red aurora snakes across the Southern Hemisph.