Very rare 'aurora storm' spotted from the International Space Station

Bob Hines, a NASA astronaut, was fortunate enough to capture the sight of a lifetime after spotting green shimmering auroras (similar to the Northern Lights)visible in space as a result of a moderatesolar storm.

Sun-generated storm

Sharing on his personal Twitter account the magnificent pictures he captured on Wednesday 17 August, he exclaimed:

Absolutely SPECTACULAR aurora today!!! Thankful for the recent solar activity resulting in these wonderful sights!

According to SpaceWeather.com, the storm that hit the atmosphere of the Earth, took place after the sun was able to toss enough charged particles directly to our planet to produce what is known as a G2-class storm. European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti confirmed that she as well got a glimpse of the spectacular light show earlier this week. In a post on Twitter, she said:

In those bright nights around the full Moon you can see features on the planet surface even at night. From the Cupola the view is “upside down” - flying above clouds feels like looking up at the sky from Earth. Cloud gazing and stargazing at the same time!

Are these solar storms harmful?

More often than not, these solar storms are harmless to Earth but there have been occasions in which strong bursts of space weather were responsible for causing infrastructure problems as well as power outages.

Astronauts also have to be extra careful, as exposure to these cosmic rays and space weather radiation can have a negative impact on their health. For this reason, when astronauts go on space missions they are followed before, during and after by medical doctors.

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