Expedition 74 Earth Aurora Collection | International Space Station

Expedition 74 Earth Aurora Collection | International Space Station

The aurora australis arcs across the Indian Ocean south of Perth, Australia, in this photograph taken at approximately 2:19 a.m. local time from the International Space Station as it orbited 270 miles above Earth.

The aurora australis crowns Earth’s atmosphere in this photograph taken at approximately 3:13 a.m. local time from the International Space Station as it orbited 269 miles above the Indian Ocean east of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands. In the foreground, the Canadarm2 robotic arm extends from a power and data grapple fixture attached to the Harmony module.

This view from a window aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft shows the aurora australis glowing above Earth’s atmosphere as the International Space Station soared 270 miles over the Indian Ocean, just southwest of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands.

You can see part of each of the Scandinavian countries–Sweden is in the center of the image (looks like clouds over Southern Sweden, so lights look a bit blurry there), the air glow of the atmosphere at night, and the aurora (and the edge of an ISS solar array).

You can see parts of Norway and Sweden (again a bit blurry in Southern Sweden due to clouds). The large bright spot in lower right area of image is Stockholm.

Expedition 74 emblem

Also known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), auroras are colorful, dynamic, and often visually delicate displays of an intricate dance of particles and magnetism between the Sun and Earth called space weather. When energetic particles from space collide with atoms and molecules in the atmosphere, they can cause the colorful glow that we call auroras.

Learn more about auroras: 
https://science.nasa.gov/sun/auroras/

Follow Expedition 74:
https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 74 Crew
Station Commander: Sergey-Kud Sverchkov (Russia)
Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Andrey Fedyaev, Sergei Mikaev

European Space Agency Flight Engineer: Sophie Adenot

NASA Flight Engineers: Jessica Meir, Jack Hathaway, 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 Credits: NASA/JSC, J. Meir

Dates: March 11-April 4, 2026

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