A heavy but harmless solar storm collided with Earth over the weekend, fueling shimmering auroras centered on the North and South Poles. In the Northern Hemisphere, the dancing blue, green and pink displays appeared as far south as Texas and Mississippi—and an astronaut onboard the International Space Station (ISS) captured the scene from above in a mesmerizing time-lapse video that also shows off the moon and sunrise. Astronaut Matthew Dominick captured this stunning time-lapse of the Northern Lights from the International Space Station.
Credit: NASA/Matt Dominick The storm has subsided, but people in Canada and some other northern regions may still glimpse flashes of color in the night sky. A large group of sunspots may pass into Earth’s view this weekend and produce solar flares that could keep up the auroral activity. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing .
By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. This most recent round of auroras came from a barrage of five solar outbursts called coronal mass ejections, or CMEs. These are naturally occurring eruptions of magnetized plasma that sometimes hurtle towards Earth, disrupting our planet’s magnetic field.
When that happens, the resulting solar storm produces charged particles that collide with elements in the Earth’s atmosphere t.