Orbital Earth Night Views | International Space Station

Orbital Earth Night Views | International Space Station

A vivid red and green aurora crowns Earth’s horizon over the southern Indian Ocean in this photo from the International Space Station as it orbited 270 miles above. At top left, a lit window reveals the docked SpaceX Dragon crew spacecraft docked to the orbital outpost's forward port on the Harmony module, set against a starry sky captured with long-exposure, low-light settings.

A wispy aurora spikes across the Indian Ocean with a set of the International Space Station's main solar arrays (augmented by its rollout solar arrays) draping the foreground. At right, is the unoccupied Rassvet module that hosts visiting spacecraft from Roscosmos. The orbital outpost was soaring 270 miles above Earth southwest of Australia at the time of this photograph.

The aurora australis appears to lap over the Earth like a tide washing ashore in this photograph taken at approximately 3:45 a.m. local time from the International Space Station as it orbited 269 miles above the Indian Ocean southwest of Australia.

The warm city lights of Southeast Asia streak below the silvery U.S. segment of the International Space Station in this 30-second exposure from the orbital outpost as it soared 259 miles above China at approximately 10:39 a.m. local time. Near the top center, is the partially obscured SpaceX Dragon spacecraft that docked to the Harmony module's forward port carrying NASA's Crew-11 mission.

The International Space Station soars 259 miles above Cambodia in this long-duration photograph revealing star trails, lightning storms, and the city lights of Southeast Asia streaking below.

Auroras happen when charged particles from the Sun interact with Earth's magnetic field, creating dazzling light shows in the sky. Auroras occurs in an upper layer of Earth’s atmosphere called the ionosphere.

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Expedition 73 Crew

Station Commander: Sergey Ryzhikov (Roscosmos)

JAXA Flight Engineer (Japan): Kimiya Yui

Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Alexey Zubritskiy, Oleg Platonov

NASA Flight Engineers: Jonny Kim, Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada.

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center
Image Dates: July 22-28, 2025

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