NASA Astronaut Captures Magical Northern Lights From Space While Orbiting Our Planet at 17,500MPH on the ISS

Space is filled with intriguing mysteries and stunning visuals. One of these stunning visuals recently unfolded in front of the world through social media. The visual was shared by Don Petit, a NASA astronaut, stated LADBible.

Petit is aboard the International Space Station (ISS), the largest structure humans have put into space, stated Space. The structure was created with the help of a cooperative programme between Europe, the United States, Russia, Canada, and Japan. Petit often shares footage of space on his social media handles, stated LADBible. This particular footage was taken just before the docking of Soyuz MS-27 to ISS.

The footage features the altitude change that the ISS undergoes during docking. Pitt clearly wanted people to pay attention to something special in the middle of the video. His caption read, "A bit long but keep watching for the surprise in the middle." The surprise was green auroras. These auroras happen when charged particles from the sun clash with Earth's atmosphere, stated The Independent. In this case, the auroras appeared in a beautiful green color, which mesmerized many in his comment section. At first, the footage only has Earth and its outer atmosphere. As the orbiting continues, the camera captures a green wave that slowly takes over the atmosphere. The footage has been viewed around 25k times on Instagram. 

The comment section was in awe of the visual. @comtnclimr loved everything about the footage and wrote, "Wow. This video is a gift that keeps on giving…thank you!" @cknasaboy claimed that the visual was one of his favorites from all the footage the astronaut has published to date on his page. He wrote, "Don, this is legitimately my favorite timelapse you’ve done so far - insane views." @tr64ever appreciated Petit's efforts and wrote, "So crazy down here on the surface of the planet. Love your view from the ISS. The aurora is a treat! Keep up the great work!"

The astronaut also mentioned that to facilitate the docking, the ship had to rotate 180 degrees and fly backward at a speed of 17,500mph, stated LADBible. So, the footage was captured at that speed. The video was captured on 5th April 2025, The Independent stated. Petit has been at the space station since September 2024. His job is to conduct science experiments and keep the space station in order. This is not Petit's first space rodeo, and including his past mission, he has logged around 370 days in space. At present, the 69-year-old is the oldest active member of NASA's astronaut corps, stated Space.

This is not the first time that Petit has shared a stunning visual from space on his social media. In January, he shared a video on his X account that showed ISS's visual flying over a green aurora. In this footage, the green aurora was more intense. He did not reveal which part of the Earth the footage was capturing. A few days ago, he posted a picture depicting the northern lights. This one had both red and green aurorae.