Tag Archives: Orion

Move over Orion, it’s the Big Dog’s turn

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The sky facing south around 9-9:30 p.m. local time in mid-February. Canis Major lies to the right and below the constellation Orion and represents a large dog. Created with Stellarium

Orion the Hunter claims the southern sky as his own during evening hours in early February, but the times are changing. Nipping at his heels is the Dog Star Sirius and the rest of the stars that comprise the constellation Canis Major the Greater Dog. ‘Greater’ because there’s also a ‘lesser’ dog in the neighborhood called Canis Minor.

Truthfully, this constellation’s so small, it looks more like a dog bone treat for the bigger Canis.

Open your door and look outside at 8 o’clock and you can’t miss Orion’s three belt stars. If you shoot a line downward through the belt toward the southern horizon, you’ll soon arrive at scintillating Sirius, flashing like a silent firecracker in the turbulent air common at lower elevations.

Dangling below Sirius are some half dozen stars in the shape of a musical triangle. These form the legs, tail and head of Canis Major. Connect the dots the next clear night and you’ll see they do form the likeness of a dog jumping at your feet.

Mythological depiction of Canis Major and nearby Lepus the Hare. That rabbit better watch out. Credit: Urania’s Mirror atlas

Canis Major has been described in myth as Orion’s hunting companion and also as Laelops, “a dog so swift that no prey could outrun it”, according to Ian Ridpath, author of Star Tales. The Big Dog doesn’t have to look far for a snack -  just beneath Orion, Lepus the Hare munches contentedly in the stellar garden.

It wasn’t too many weeks ago that you had to stay up late to catch the canine constellation, but now I see it’s nudging Orion from its top spot by 9:30 p.m. As the Earth spins, stars appear to rise in the east, reach their greatest height when due south and set in the west. By month’s end, Canis Major will be due south around 8 p.m. and Orion will have taken a hike to the west.

The Greater Dog constellation topped by Sirius, nicknamed the “Dog Star” for obvious reasons. The star cluster M41, located just a short distance below Sirius, is a very pretty sight in binoculars and very easy to find. Photo: Bob King

If the nightly east-west drift of stars is due to Earth’s rotation, what causes the seasonal drift of the stars? Why doesn’t Orion always stay in the same place week after week, month after month? Blame it on Copernicus. He made the claim, outrageous for his time, that the Earth moved around the sun. Throughout antiquity and into the Middle Ages people thought that if the Earth moved, every time you jumped off the ground, the planet would rush away and leave you behind. Since that didn’t happen, it was obvious the Earth must stand still.

Few understood that EVERYTHING – the Earth, the jumper, birds and atmosphere – were all moving at the same speed and so appeared to be at rest relative to each other. The same thing happens when you’re flying at 550 mph in a plane. Once the plane has reached a constant speed, you’re hardly aware you’re moving. And since you, your laptop and that ginger ale are all traveling at 550 mph, they don’t go flying around the plane. This habit of things to stay put as long as they’re all moving at the same speed is called inertia.

Because our planet orbits the sun, we see into different directions in space over the weeks and months of a year. In January (right), Orion dominates the southern sky; in April it’s Leo and in June, Scorpius. The whole cycle repeats every year. Illustration: Bob King

OK, back to the Big Dog. As the Earth orbits the sun, our perspective on the nighttime sky changes over the weeks and months. At 10 p.m. in mid-January Orion stands straight up in the southern sky, but at 10 p.m in February, he’s been replaced by Canis Major. Come 10 p.m. in April, Leo the Lion will be high in the south and Orion will have set in the west.

As the weeks and months go by, we peer into a different direction of sky just as a runner sees different groups of fans as she runs the 1500-meter on a race track. Like many good things in skywatching, the cycle repeats anew every year.

Meet Rigel in Orion, a star with supernova potential

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Both Betelgeuse and Rigel are potential supernova candidates. The view shows the sky facing southeast around 8 p.m. local time in early January.  Maps created with Stellarium

Everybody’s always worried about Betelgeuse in Orion blowing up as a supernova. There’s a good chance that may happen one day, but no need to panic. The star’s too far away to trouble earthlings with its future fireworks. Opposite Betelgeuse and below the winsome triad of stars that form Orion’s Belt, another potential supernova star sparks and sputters on winter nights – Rigel. The name comes from ancient Arabic and refers to the foot or leg of Orion.

Like Betelgeuse, Rigel (RYE-jel) is also a supergiant star but one of a different color and temperature. Astronomers classify it as a blue supergiant with a surface temperature of over 20,000 degrees, twice that of the sun and 3 1/2 times hotter than Betelgeuse.

Rigel, a blue supergiant star, is 18 times more massive than the sun and 74 times its size. Credit: CWitte with minor alterations by Bob King

At a distance of 860 light years, Rigel is big enough and close enough to have its diameter measured directly. As you might guess, it’s huge – 74 times the size of our sun.

Placed where the sun is now, this stellar beast would extend nearly to the orbit of Mercury. From Earth, Rigel would span 35 degrees of sky and shine at a blinding -38 magnitude. We’re talking a powerful sunburn in a minute or two.

Great distance tames Rigel’s true ferocity as a young, energy gobbling star into a pretty blue-white twinkle reminiscent of sunlight on snowflakes. Rigel shines at 0.1 magnitude or about as bright as Capella in Auriga and Vega in Lyra.

Being extremely hot, blue supergiants burn up their energy stores quickly. At the tender age of 10 million years (young for a star), Rigel has already depleted its core of hydrogen fuel and has moved on to burning hydrogen in a surrounding shell.

If put in place of the sun 93 million miles from Earth, Rigel would cover 35 degrees or sky or about twice the area of the constellation Orion.

Helium “ash” created from hydrogen burning will one day ignite and serve as fuel as will progressively heavier elements like oxygen, neon and silicon over time. Rigel will puff up and redden just like Betelgeuse in those far-off days.

Just before a supergiant star blows it has a core made of iron that cannot “burn” to create energy to push back the force of gravity. Gravity takes hold and the star collapses.

Unfortunately, supergiant stars reach the end of the line once all the remaining silicon fuel has undergone nuclear fusion to create a core of iron. Iron requires more energy to fuse than the energy it releases, so it won’t burn like the other elemental fuels. With no burning to push back against the crushing force of gravity in so large a star, the core collapses and sends out shock waves that rip it apart in a supernova explosion.

Rigel is a close double star in a small telescope. Use 100x and up to split it cleanly. Credit: Fresno State University Observatory

When will this happen? Probably millions of years down the road. Since Rigel’s 300 light years farther from Earth than Betelgeuse, we needn’t worry about it either. Instead, our future descendants should prepare for a wondrous light show. Jim Kaler, professor emeritus at the University of Illinois, estimates that Rigel will become as bright as the half-moon when it finally blows up. Picture all that light concentrated in a tiny point of light. We’d easily see our shadows at night by supernova light!

If you have a small telescope 4.5 inches or larger, point it at Rigel some night. It’s one of the finest, if challenging, double stars in the sky. The 7th magnitude companion peaks out from under the glare of the main star a very short distance (9 arc seconds) to its south. On a night with steady air and good seeing, this pair is a beautiful sight.

Make a toast to the New Year’s Eve midnight sky

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The Winter Triangle will greet your gaze at midnight tonight high in the south. To find your directions, face slightly to the right of the sunset direction – that’s west. Then stick out your right arm to point north, your left arm points south and east is at your back. Maps created with Stellarium

Most of us will be wandering around at midnight tonight, right? Why not peek outside to see what’s happening in the sky at a time when we’re normally asleep?

Jupiter beams brightly high in the southwestern sky, but it’s Orion and Sirius that might catch your eye first. During the early evening Orion reclines in the east; by midnight he’s standing straight up staring you in the face. At his lower left, romping and ready for the hunt, is the Great Dog, Canis Major. Sirius, the most brilliant star in the heavens, sparkles from his collar. Yipping for attention well above Orion is the little chihuahua dog Canis Minor with its luminary Procyon. Connect the little Dog Star with Sirius and Orion’s ruby Betelgeuse to form the Winter Triangle.

The moon visits Leo’s brightest star Regulus tonight. Alphard, Hydra’s “alpha” star, shines meekly to the lower right of the moon.

Off to the east, the waning gibbous moon in Cancer isn’t far from Regulus, Leo the Lion’s brightest star. Direct your gaze two outstretched fists to the lower right of the moon to catch sight of Alphard in Hydra the Water Snake, a transitional winter-spring constellation. Even Leo carries a whiff of spring as it rides up in the east – come April, it will  rule the southern sky at nightfall.

In the north, we see that the Big Dipper, which has been slumbering away along the northern horizon all fall, has finally returned to the tray-table upright position in the northeast. The Dipper is the brightest portion of Ursa Major the Great Bear and always strikes me as a little funny at this hour standing on his tail (handle). The ancients, who created the constellations, obviously loved animals – and perhaps a good circus act – as much as we do.

Have you missed the Big Dipper? Go out at midnight, look to the north and you’ll see your old friend has returned.

Queen Cassiopeia belongs to the northern sky but also partakes of the west at this hour. The W-shaped constellation stands on its end opposite the Big Dipper. Between them lies the always reliable North Star also known as Polaris. Like that person you can always count on being there for you, we know where to find our Polaris.

The western sky at midnight is filled with departing constellations of fall including Aries the Ram and Andromeda.

A line of stars angling northwestward is the brightest part of Andromeda the Chained Princess. She dominated the sky overhead sky earlier in the evening, but by the midnight hour the princess repairs to her western bed. Higher up you’ll see the familiar Pleiades star cluster and the curliques of stars forming the constellation Perseus the Hero.

Raise your glass tonight in a toast to the good old stars at the start of a brand new year.

Happy New Year everyone!

Pushy Orion nudges out the Northern Cross on November nights

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In this nearly 360-degree view, the sky is shown at 10 o’clock local time when Orion and the Northern Cross (also known as Cygnus the Swan) are opposite one another. SE stands for the  southeast direction and NW for northwest. Created with Stellarium

Orion the Hunter rises, the Summer Triangle sets. These two opposing groups of stars lie on opposite sides of the sky from one another and represent the great seasonal divide of summer and winter. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the stance of the Northern Cross.

The Northern Cross led by its brightest star Deneb stands above the western horizon Friday night. Photo: Bob King

I noticed it Friday night while out walking the dog. Cygnus the Swan a.k.a. the Northern Cross stood exactly upright in the northwestern sky around 10 o’clock. Meanwhile Vega, the brightest star in the Summer Triangle, required some neck twisting to see, hidden as it was by tree branches to the lower right of the Cross. In the exact opposite corner of the sky Orion and his tri-star Belt led a charge of bright winter stars laying waste to the dim constellations of the fall southern sky.

Brilliant Jupiter (top) and Orion (left), with his three-stars-in-a-row belt, shine through the clouds in the eastern sky Friday night. Photo: Bob King

Despite their seasonal differences, the “alpha” or brightest stars of Cygnus and Orion – Deneb and Betelgeuse – are both supergiants with diameters so large they make the sun look point-like in comparison. Before continuing, you must know that Betelgeuse, is not Orion’s brightest star despite its designation as Alpha Orionis. It’s bested by a few tenths of a magnitude by Rigel in the hunter’s foot. Since Betelgeuse is a pulsating variable star with a diameter and brightness that changes over the months and years, it may at times wax brighter than Rigel.

Astronomers estimate Betelgeuse varies between about 550 and 920 times the size of the sun as it expands and contracts, unable to reach stasis like our more dependable star. These ups and downs are all part of Betelgeuse’s evolution from a red supergiant to potential supernovadom – one winter evening we may look up to find it’s blown its top, outshining every star in the nighttime sky.

Deneb is an enormous blue-white supergiant star some 100-200 times the size of the sun. It appears as a modestly bright 1st magnitude star because it’s over 1,500 light years away. Betelgeuse in comparison is only 642 light years away. Illustration: Bob King

Betelgeuse’s counterpart Deneb in the Northern Cross is likewise a supergiant but a younger, much hotter blue-white star 100-200 times the sun’s diameter. Both these great giants and their respective constellations draw our eye this time of year, when the leaves are down and the stars sparkle between tree branches like stellar tinsel.

Farewell DST, hello Orion!

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The two maps show the sky facing east on Nov. 3, when daylight saving time was still in effect, and tonight. Losing an hour makes the stars appear to move an hour westward, raising Orion up in the east at the same time on the clock. Created with Stellarium

Since dropping Daylight Saving Time last weekend you’ve probably noticed how swiftly evening darkness descends. The photojournalist part of me craves daylight, especially if I need to shoot a feature photo for my newspaper’s local news section. It’s not easy to find or photograph people out and about during twilight.

But there are compensations. One of them is the swift kick the stars get once DST is done. You may have noticed last week around 9:30 p.m. local time that Jupiter and his constellation buddies Taurus and Orion grazed the treetops low in the eastern sky.

With our return to standard time, the stars of the eastern sky are up an hour earlier, while those in the west set an hour earlier. If you’re a fan of Orion and Jupiter – and who isn’t? – you don’t have to stay up so late to see them. Meanwhile, you’d better get out early if you want to catch the late summer-early fall stars. They’re all in the western sky and getting the boot an hour sooner.

The secret to this remarkable sleight of hand is simple – 9:30 p.m. daylight time is the same as 8:30 standard time. For our clocks to read 9:30 standard time we have to wait an additional hour, during which time Orion sneaks up from below the horizon and Jupiter vaults higher in the east.

Many of the meteors in this composite photo belong to the Taurid meteor shower, which remains active through the weekend. The bright object at lower right is the moon. Credit: John Chumack

Having Taurus the Bull nosing up earlier is a good thing because the Taurid meteor shower’s putting on a decent show. I wish I could chime in with my own observations, but the sky’s been overcast here. Not so for astrophotographer John Chumack of Dayton, Ohio. He grabbed some great video stills yesterday morning at the start of the shower’s peak activity.

“The meteors were nice and slow … burning up and often leaving small afterglows (trails),” writes Chumack. “Not bad for a minor shower.” The Taurids will continue to fling meteors our way through the weekend. Click HERE for more information on how to view them.

Cosmonaut tosses satellite into orbit; farewell gathering of moon and planets tonight

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Two planets, a bright star and the moon gather in the southwestern sky this evening August 21. Look about 45 minutes to an hour after sunset to see it best. Created with Stellarium

You’re invited to the farewell party tonight. Mars, Saturn, Spica and the moon will gather in a big, beautiful bunch one last time this year. Be sure you have a spot with a clear view to the southwest. The moon will be easy to see and will help you find the others. I always like to take along binoculars to add depth and extra snap to scenes like this one. Start looking about 45 minutes to an hour after sundown.

On September 18, when the crescent moon returns for a replay, Spica and Saturn will be lost in the twilight glow with only Mars remaining. Earth’s revolution around the sun causes all the stars and (sooner or later) planets to be swallowed up by the western horizon. Mars is close enough to Earth that its rapid orbital motion to the east helps it avoid sinking away in the west as quickly as the outer planets. Mars’ zip won’t help stay apace forever; Earth is faster yet and the Red Planet will finally disappear from the evening sky by late fall. Parting is such sweet sorrow.

Venus (left), Jupiter (top), along with the V-shaped Hyades star cluster (right of Jupiter) and Orion (lower right) light up the eastern sky at dawn earlier this week. Photo: Bob King

We’re blessed with two twilights – one at dusk, the other at dawn. Whichever one you spend your time with, you won’t go wrong. One could argue the morning version is even more stunning than the evening. Not only are Venus and Jupiter high and bright, but Orion and his starry belt climb above the trees, adding even more luster to the scene. If it’s inner peace you’re seeking, I recommend a dawn outing. Before the world revs up for another day, the sense of quietude can be profound.

Two frames from NASA-TV showing cosmonaut Gennady Padalka (at left with large backpack) using a lacrosse-like device to launch the small spherical satellite, a 20-lb. steel ball into space below and behind the space station. Click to see a video.

Gennady Padalka  had some fun yesterday while he and fellow cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko were out for a little 7-hour spacewalk at the International Space Station. Besides moving a crane to a new location and installing a shield to protect the ship from micrometeroid impacts, he got to launch a satellite all by himself. You’ve got to see the video to appreciate how easy it was to launch – one quick push and the shiny steel ball floated away. To avoid any chance of it hitting the ISS, he aimed it behind and below the station.

We may have come a long way from the atlatl, but the concept of release by throwing from an extension of the human arm is similar. Clever humans.

The Russians will monitor the shiny ball from the ground to work on techniques for tracking space debris and its re-entry into our atmosphere. The little satellite will orbit Earth for about 3 months. It should be visible in binoculars; when more information on its orbit becomes available, I’ll post viewing times.

Venusian delights; Orion preps for leave of absence

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The moon drops by Mars and Regulus in Leo Monday and Tuesday nights. Maps created with Stellarium

Watch tonight as the gibbous moon nears Regulus and Mars in Leo high in the southeast. The trio will form a line about 10 degrees long or a fist held at arm’s length against the sky. In the western sky, don’t forget Venus and the Pleiades or Seven Sisters star cluster. The brilliant planet enters into the cluster’s domain this evening. A pair of binoculars will give a wonderful view. Tomorrow night Venus will join the sisters for a sleepover.

Binocular view of Venus and the Pleiades tonight. Try to catch the two if weather allows. It won't happen again for 8 years.

When you’re out at nightfall this week, give a look toward Orion, now tipping over in the western sky by 9-10 p.m. In another few weeks, the hunter will disappear from view when he’s swallowed up by evening twilight.

You’ll notice that Orion’s Belt is now nearly horizontal. The left end points to twinkling Sirius, the brilliant white star in the south-southwest; the right end toward the orange star Aldebaran and the V-shaped Hyades star cluster and beyond to the Pleiades.

Orion tips to the west by 9 o'clock in the evening during early April. Use his Belt to navigate a nearly straight line to Sirius, the Hyades and Pleiades. Photo: Bob King

This laying-down” of Orion is a sure sign of winter’s passing. Time to bury the sword and embrace the season’s rain, warmth, ticks, flowers, mud and greenery.

There’s more to Orion than 3 stars in a row

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Venus and Uranus slowly separate but remain near enough to one another to easily fit inside a binocular view (yellow circle). The maps show the sky as you face west in late twilight. Stars shown to ~6.5 magnitude. Created with Stellarium

Some of us had cloudy skies last night and couldn’t see the conjunction of Venus and Uranus. Well, I’m here to tell you there’s still hope. The two will be close enough the next couple nights to easily see together in the same binocular field of view. Just use the little maps above to guide you. Conveniently, Uranus is directly below Venus tonight.

Orion painted in gold on a living room ceiling. Photo: Bob King

While I was on assignment shooting photos for the Duluth News Tribune this week, I came upon a star-studded ceiling in a subject’s living room. Orion, Cassiopeia and the Big and Little Dippers were painted in gold against a robin’s egg blue.  I felt right at home.

Orion is beautifully placed in mid-February straight up and high in the south around 8 p.m. local time. The three belt stars are the easiest to see, but there’s a good deal more to the constellation you may not have been aware of. The rectangular box of stars centered on the belt forms the general outline of the Hunter. Bright red Betelgeuse marks the top of his shoulder and equally brilliant Rigel his left foot.

If you can escape city light pollution, you’ll see plenty more of Orion beyond his bright frame. Look for his sword directly below the belt, the upraised club in his right hand and curved shield in his left.

A delightful bit of fuzz awaits your eye smack in the center of the sword – the Orion Nebula. Visible to the naked eye as a hazy spot, binoculars will show a small cloud studded with several bright stars. These stars – and thousands of others buried inside the mist – formed from the gravitational attraction of gases. They’re literally newborns compared to most of the stars visible to the naked eye.

Orion represents the mythological Hunter figure. He comes equipped with the best equipment of the era of his creation thousands of years ago. Click photo to learn more about the constellation. Picture at right: Bob King

I’ve always found it funny that for so grand a figure as Orion his head is so tiny, but that’s the way things go when you’re creating constellations – you use what you’ve got at hand.

Zippy little asteroid 2012 BX34 makes a quick visit

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Funny how linear things are in Orion's Belt and Sword. This 21-minute long time exposure with a 120mm lens shows the trails of the three Belt stars at top and the Sword. The slightly fuzzy trail of the Orion Nebula is the middle stripe near bottom. Photo: Bob King

I had a good night under the stars last night. Temperatures in the 20s made it easy to be outside for a change. It also meant I could make a few time exposures without having to worry about running out of battery power. Winter’s Milky Way is fainter and less textured than the summer version with its chunky star clouds. From a rural site, it slices diagonally from right to left across the southern sky and reminds me of rising smoke from a smouldering campfire. Knowing that it’s jammed with billions of stars thousands of light years thick jazzes my brain every time I see it.

The Milky Way last night around 10 o'clock. Sirius is at bottom; Orion with his 3-starred Belt and Sword dangling below is at right. Details: 15mm lens at f/2.8, ISO 3200 and 30 second exposure. Photo: Bob King

A 36-foot wide asteroid skimmed near Earth at 9:30 a.m. CST this morning passing only 36,750 miles away before zooming back into the deeps at more than 21,000 mph. No danger was ever expected from 2012 BX34, since a rock that size would disintegrate into pieces if it were to strike our atmosphere. At best we might expect a few meteorites. No worries. The asteroid’s path was well known beforehand and any chance of a collision ruled out.

Some amateur astronomers saw and photographed the object, but it was challenge, because 2012 BX34′s tiny size meant it was faint – only about 15th magnitude at best.

Asteroid 2012 BX34 is the faint streak to the right of the top star in this 2-minute time exposure photo taken early this morning. Credit: Ernesto Guido, Giovanni Sostero & Nick Howes

Several asteroids a year come closer to the Earth than the moon’s distance of 240,000 miles. 90% of the larger ones, ranging from mountain-size on up, are already known thanks to detailed surveys with both ground-based and orbiting telescopes. The tally stands at around 910 for the moment. 2012 BX34 ranks 15th on the list of closest approaching asteroids. Below are the top ten as of January 27, 2012 along with their distances at the time of closest approach to Earth:

1. 2011 CQ1 – 3,405 miles on Feb. 4, 2011
2. 2008 TS26 – 3,821 miles Oct. 9, 2008
3. 2004 FU162 – 4,060 miles March 31, 2004
4. 2011 MD – 7,500 miles June 27, 2011
5. 2009 VA – 8,699 miles Nov. 6, 2009
6. 2008 US – 15,534 miles Oct. 20, 2008
7. 2004 YD5 – 20,000 miles Dec. 19, 2004
8. 2010 WA – 24,000 miles Nov. 17, 2010
9. 2011 CF22 – 24,000 miles on Feb. 6, 2011
10. 2008 VM – 29,760 miles on Nov. 3, 2008

The list is interesting because the closest approaches have all been within the past few years. Are we suddenly being buzzed by more asteroids? No. What you’re seeing is a selection effect due to improvements in equipment, cameras and deliberate surveys to hunt for Earth-approaching asteroids that might pose a threat to Earth now or in the distant future. It’s a little like hunting for blueberries in the forest. After you find the first patch and get familiar with the look of the leaves and habit of the plant, you suddenly start seeing blueberries everywhere.

Father-daughter-Jupiter conjunction, aurora video and more

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The thin crescent moon will pair up with Antares, the heart of the scorpion tomorrow morning at dawn. This is an ideal time to see the earthlit portion of the moon. Created with Stellarium

Mid-January. It’s cold here in northern Minnesota. While I wouldn’t pass up a cozy hour next to the wood stove, I’m drawn outside on even the bitterest of clear nights for yet another look at the winter stars. Jupiter’s still high in the southwestern sky and you can’t beat Orion charging up from the east. Shoot a line through his three belt stars toward the horizon and you’ll run right into the sky’s brightest star, Sirius.

Last night, while I peered through the telescope under a dark, rural sky, my daughter called me from downtown Minneapolis. Her sky was clear too, though orange and sapped of starlight. We shared the only “star” the two of us could both see at the same time – Jupiter. Like a communications satellite, the planet connected us across the miles.

Tomorrow morning there’s a nice conjunction of the thin crescent moon and Antares, the brightest star in Scorpius. Only a sliver of moon will be lit by sunlight. The remainder – the dusky, gray disk – glows from twice-reflected sunlight called earthshine. Some of the light reflected from our shiny planet bounces off into space, is picked up by the moon and then reflected back to our eyes.

Because the moon returns reflected rather than direct sunlight, earthlight has a dim, ghostly quality. All you need is an open view to the southeast around 6-6:30 a.m. at the start of morning twilight and the willpower to stand out in the cold to see it. I wake up very quickly when I step out the door in January. Coming back inside a warm house never felt better after you’ve gazed at the winter sky.


Time lapse sequences of photographs taken with a special low-light 4K-camera
by the crew of expedition 28 & 29 onboard the International Space Station from
August to October, 2011. Credit: Image Science & Analysis Laboratory,
NASA Johnson Space Center

I’ve posted aurora videos taken by the astronauts on the International Space Station before, but they’ve typically been brief. This one is five minutes long and features not only the quivering lights but cool flybys of cities and flashing thunderstorms. If you’re more in the mood to stay indoors tonight, this is for you. In order of appearance on the video are:

1. Aurora borealis pass over the U.S. at night
2. Aurora borealis and eastern U.S. at night
3. Aurora australis from Madagascar to southwest of Australia
4. Aurora australis south of Australia
5. Northwest coast of United States to Central South America at night
6. Aurora australis from the Southern to the Northern Pacific Ocean
7. Halfway around the World
8. Night pass over Central Africa and the Middle East
9. Evening Pass over the Sahara Desert and the Middle East
10. Pass over Canada and Central United States at Night
11. Pass over Southern California to Hudson Bay
12. Islands in the Philippine Sea at night
13. Pass over Eastern Asia to Philippine Sea and Guam
14. Views of the Mideast at night
15. Night Pass over Mediterranean Sea
16. Aurora borealis and the U.S. at night
17. Aurora australis over Indian Ocean
18. Eastern Europe to Southeastern Asia at night