Planet Earth by Bright 'Moonglow' | International Space Station

Planet Earth by Bright 'Moonglow' | International Space Station

Expedition 75 commander, flight engineer, and NASA astronaut Jessica Meir: "Milky Way with a Moonlit Earth. Compare this to my previous Milky Way view and behold the power of our Moon! The Earth is so awash in Moonglow it looks like daytime, complete with blue oceans and continental outlines. The Moon just keeps on giving—even more motivation to return there with the NASA Artemis program!"

You will notice layers of yellow, orange, and green airglow in this video. 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. 

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https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 75 Crew
Station Commander: Jessica Meir
Roscosmos (Russia) Flight Engineers: Andrey Fedyaev, Anna Kikina, Pyotr Dubrov

European Space Agency Flight Engineer: Sophie Adenot

NASA Flight Engineers: Jack Hathaway, Anil Menon

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.

Video Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center/J. Meir

Duration: 5 seconds
Date: Sept. 29, 2026

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