ISS Astronaut Captures Spectacular Aurora Footage During a Sunrise (VIDEO)

A NASA astronaut has captured some spectacular footage of the Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights, as they appeared over Earth's horizon. The new video reveals the lights as the sun peaks over the horizon, creating an amazing display.

The aurora is usually a milky green in color, though it can also show red, blue, violet, pink and white. These colors appear in a variety of continuously changing shapes, and sometimes the aurora is so dim and scattered that it can be mistaken for clouds of the Milky Way.

The aurora itself is usually caused by collisions between fast-moving electrons from space with the oxygen and nitrogen in Earth's upper atmosphere.

In this case, the aurora was captured by astronaut Scott Kelly, who is currently on the International Space Station. In the clip, you can clearly see the ISS as it zips over Earth and toward the sunrise. Below, you can see the aurora flowing in a beautiful display of lights. After capturing the aurora on video, Kelly tweeted the sight to Twitter users on Earth.

Want to see the video for yourself? Check it out below, courtesy of YouTube.

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