--- title: "This Timelapse of the Northern Lights Taken From Space Is Utterly Breathtaking" description: "NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick shared a breathtaking timelapse he took of red and green auroras outside the window of SpaceX's spacecraft." date: "2024-10-08" modified: "2024-10-08" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/timelapse-northern-lights-space-breathtaking" categories: - "Off-World" - "Space" tags: - "astronaut" - "aurora" - "international space station" - "NASA" - "northern lights" - "the digest" --- # This Timelapse of the Northern Lights Taken From Space Is Utterly Breathtaking ![NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick shared a breathtaking timelapse he took of red and green auroras outside the window of SpaceX's spacecraft.]() *\Image: Matthew Dominick\* ## Dancing Lights NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick has [shared a breathtaking timelapse]() he took of red and green auroras outside the window of SpaceX's Endeavour Crew Dragon spacecraft, which is currently docked at the International Space Station. While clocking in at a brief 11 seconds, the clip shows off a dazzling view of charged particles glowing in magenta and turquoise hues as they enter the Earth's atmosphere. Dominick stitched together "a couple thousand images" for the video. While it was taken out of the window of one Crew Dragon spacecraft, a second SpaceX capsule docked at a different port of the ISS can be seen below. The astronaut traveled to the space station in March as part of SpaceX's Crew-8 mission. His return journey, which was initially scheduled for October 13, [had to be postponed]() due to Hurricane Milton, which is expected to make landfall in Florida on Wednesday afternoon. Fortunately for us, his passion for photography has allowed us to get a unique glimpse of the view outside of his window. https://twitter.com/dominickmatthew/status/1843654697019744307 ## Picking the Window Seat As the Sun is entering its most active stage of its 11-year cycle, scientists expect it to kick off incredibly powerful solar storms, which can result in huge amounts of plasma being blasted our way. Auroras are the result of these electrically charged particles colliding with the Earth's magnetosphere. When colliding with oxygen, they give off rich hues of red and green, while collisions with atmospheric nitrogen result in blues and purples. Just last week, a powerful X-level solar flare, the second-strongest of the year so far, was [powerful enough to cause a radio blackout](). Meanwhile, skygazers back on the surface have themselves been treated to a [spectacular light show this week](). **More on the northern lights:** *[Astronaut Snaps Mind-Melting Photo of Northern Lights Way Down Below]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()