A spectacular aurora display painted the skies above Europe on January 19, 2026, as seen from the International Space Station. Captured in vivid shades of red and green, the phenomenon was observed while the station orbited 262 miles above the Mediterranean Sea.
The photograph, taken at approximately 10:02 p.m. local time, shows the Earth’s horizon illuminated by a flowing curtain of auroral light. Looking north across Italy toward Germany, the image reveals not only the luminous spectacle but also the twinkling city lights beneath.
The scene highlights a dynamic atmospheric event shaped by space weather, a term that describes the invisible yet influential interactions between the Sun and Earth.
Captured From Orbit During Night Pass
The image we’re focusing on today was captured as the ISS passed over Europe at night. The station was flying at an altitude of 262 miles above the Mediterranean Sea, giving the crew a direct view northward over the European landmass. The red and green light bands dominate the upper part of the image, stretching across the horizon and curving along Earth’s atmosphere.
NASA astronaut Chris Williams was credited for the photograph, which is now part of the agency’s public image archive. As the U.S. Space Agency, this particular pass offered ideal conditions to capture the event: darkness below, a clear view across central Europe, and visible auroral activity above.
How Auroras Form In The Atmosphere
According to NASA, auroras form when energetic particles from space collide with gases in Earth’s atmosphere, causing them to emit light in different colors. This natural display, called aurora borealis in the Northern Hemisphere and aurora australis in the Southern Hemisphere, is one of the most vivid signs of solar activity reaching our planet.
These collisions produce glowing emissions, with green typically resulting from oxygen molecules at lower altitudes, while red appears at higher altitudes where the atmosphere is thinner. This process belongs to the broader domain of space weather, which includes all solar-driven phenomena affecting the Earth and its magnetic environment.
A Visible Trace Of Invisible Solar Energy
While the aurora itself is a visual event, it represents a far larger and mostly invisible chain of interactions. Solar activity releases energetic particles that stream toward Earth and become trapped in its magnetosphere. There, they follow magnetic field lines toward the poles and eventually collide with atmospheric particles, producing visible light.