A green and red aurora streams across Earth’s horizon above the city lights of Europe in this Jan. 19, 2026, photograph, which looks north across Italy toward Germany. The International Space Station was orbiting 262 miles above the Mediterranean Sea at approximately 10:02 p.m. local time when the image was captured.
Also known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), auroras are colorful, dynamic, and often visually delicate displays of an intricate dance of particles and magnetism between the Sun and Earth called space weather. When energetic particles from space collide with atoms and molecules in the atmosphere, they can cause the colorful glow that we call auroras.
Image credit: NASA/Chris Williams
在2026年1月19日拍摄的这张照片中，绿色与红色的极光沿着地球地平线铺展开来，下方是欧洲城市灯光。画面视角朝北，从意大利方向望向德国。拍摄时，国际空间站在地中海上空约262英里的轨道运行，时间约为当地晚上10点02分。
极光也被称为北极光或南极光，是一种色彩斑斓、动态变化且常显得纤细柔和的自然景象，源于太阳与地球之间由粒子与磁场共同编织的复杂太空天气过程。当来自太空的高能粒子与大气中的原子和分子碰撞时，会激发出我们所看到的这种绚丽光辉。
图片来源: NASA/Chris Williams
