Earth Airglow Collection | International Space Station
The Moon glares into a camera aboard the International Space Station as it orbited 259 miles above the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa at approximately 10:49 p.m. local time. A bright airglow blankets Earth's horizon as the Milky Way illuminates the night sky.
The Persian Gulf region—from Oman to the United Arab Emirates, with Iran's southwest coast visible across the geographically important waterway—is illuminated beneath a bright yellow-green airglow. This long-exposure photograph, taken at approximately 11:40 p.m. local time from the International Space Station as it orbited 259 miles above northwestern India, also captures the starry expanse of the night sky.
The Milky Way spans the night sky above a bright orange-yellow airglow that blankets the city lights along the east coast of Africa, from Kenya to Somalia. The International Space Station was orbiting 259 miles above the Indian Ocean, north of Madagascar, at approximately 10:29 p.m. local time when this photograph was taken.
A yellow-green airglow, caused by atoms and molecules releasing energy as light after being excited by ultraviolet sunlight or cosmic rays, blankets the city lights of North America in this photograph, taken at approximately 2:18 a.m. local time from the International Space Station as it orbited 260 miles above Texas.
This serene image of the Moon (upper right) glinting off the Southern Pacific Ocean—beneath a yellow-green airglow and a starry night sky—was taken at approximately 8:59 p.m. local time from the International Space Station as it orbited 263 miles above Earth, southwest of French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France comprising more than 100 islands.
Stars fill the sky above a serene, blue-green airglow blanketing Earth's horizon in this photograph taken from the International Space Station at approximately 1:05 a.m. local time while orbiting 263 miles above the Republic of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.
A red-yellow airglow blankets Earth as the last rays of an orbital sunset illuminate the atmosphere in this photograph from the International Space Station as it orbited 262 miles above the South Atlantic Ocean.
You will notice green, yellow, and red airglow in these images. Airglow occurs when atoms and molecules in the Earth's upper atmosphere, excited by sunlight, emit light to shed their excess energy. Or, it can happen when atoms and molecules that have been ionized by sunlight collide with and capture a free electron. In both cases, they eject a particle of light—called a photon—in order to relax again. The phenomenon is similar to auroras, but where auroras are driven by high-energy particles originating from the solar wind, airglow is energized by ordinary, day-to-day solar radiation.
Unlike episodic and fleeting auroras, airglow shines constantly throughout Earth’s atmosphere, and the result is a tenuous bubble of light that closely encases our entire planet. (Auroras, on the other hand, are usually constrained to Earth’s poles.) Just a tenth as bright as all the stars in the night sky, airglow is far more subdued than auroras, too dim to observe easily except in orbit or on the ground with clear, dark skies and a sensitive camera.
Follow Expedition 73:
Expedition 73 Crew
Station Commander: Sergey Ryzhikov (Roscosmos)
JAXA Flight Engineer (Japan): Kimiya Yui
Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Alexey Zubritskiy, Oleg Platonov, Sergey-Kud Sverchkov, Sergei Mikaev
NASA Flight Engineers: Jonny Kim, Zena Cardman, Mike Fincke, Chris Williams
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: Sept. 27-Oct. 26, 2025
Release Date: Dec. 3, 2025
Release Date: Dec. 3, 2025
#NASA #Space #ISS #Planets #Earth #Atmosphere #Airglow #Astronauts #Cosmonauts #HumanSpaceflight #SpaceLaboratory #JSC #UnitedStates #Russia #Россия #Roscosmos #Роскосмос #Japan #JAXA #Expedition73 #STEM #Education
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