Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Northern Lights: Incredible Nasa footage shows rising sun meeting Aurora Borealis over the US

The sun can be seen rising from the east before meeting the lights

Lamiat Sabin
Saturday 07 February 2015 05:07 EST
Comments
The Northern Lights meeting the sun that is rising in the east
The Northern Lights meeting the sun that is rising in the east (YouTube/Nasa)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Stunning footage released by Nasa reveals the glory of the Northern Lights meeting the sunrise over the north east coast of the US.

The video clip – which was taken from the International Space Station on Thursday – shows a haze of green, yellow and orange colours from the Northern Hemisphere polar light show.

Nasa filmed the footage over Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts before the clip was sped up and posted online.

Northern Lights is the common name for Aurora Borealis, a light show of varying colours caused by collisions between electrically-charged particles from the sun that enter the Earth’s atmosphere.

The lights occur near the magnetic poles and are known as Aurora Australis in the Southern Hemisphere. They can be watched from the ground during clear nights.

Nasa, which stands for The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, posted the video with the caption “‘#sunrise touches #aurora. All we need now are angels singing’ #AstroButch”.

It is a reference to astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore who is one of the six crew members currently on board the ISS.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in