NASA astronaut shares mesmerising aurora videos from space
Listen to article
Veteran NASA astronaut Don Pettit has released breathtaking videos of green auroras captured from the International Space Station (ISS), revealing a dazzling view of Earth's atmospheric phenomena from above.
The 69-year-old astronaut shared several clips this week on X (formerly Twitter), showcasing vibrant green ribbons of light glowing beneath the ISS as it flew over the southern hemisphere between Australia and Antarctica.
Formation flying; Starlink satellites tracing parallel lines in the sky.
Thanks to @BabakTafreshi for assembling this clip from timelapse images. pic.twitter.com/9vCKt1lCx5 — Don Pettit (@astro_Pettit) April 11, 2025
Auroras, commonly known as the Northern and Southern Lights, occur when charged particles from the Sun — often released during coronal mass ejections (CMEs) — collide with gases in Earth's upper atmosphere. These collisions excite oxygen and nitrogen molecules, producing glowing lights in green, red, blue, or pink.
NASA explains that auroras are most visible near the poles, where the Earth's magnetic field is strongest. From space, these phenomena are not only visible but often more dramatic.
Pettit, currently on his fourth mission aboard the ISS, also posted a timelapse of Elon Musk's Starlink satellites moving in formation, and a rare video of upper atmospheric lightning, known as Transient Luminous Events (TLEs), above the Amazon. These brief flashes include exotic phenomena like sprites and blue jets.
Earlier this week, Pettit also filmed the station's rotation during a Soyuz docking manoeuvre that brought astronauts Jonny Kim, Sergei Ryzhikov, and Alexei Zubritsky to the ISS for an eight-month mission. The spacecraft's arrival required the ISS to rotate 180 degrees, flying backwards at 17,500mph — allowing for more stunning aurora footage.
Widely praised for his visual storytelling from orbit, Pettit has logged over 370 days in space and more than 13 hours of spacewalks. His latest clips, described by fans as 'phenomenal' and 'timelapse gold,' have sparked calls for a documentary compilation of his work.
He is expected to return to Earth later this month along with Russian cosmonauts Aleksey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Express Tribune
12-06-2025
- Express Tribune
Pakistan's first open data portal launched
The launch of satellite internet in Pakistan is set to revolutionise the digital ecosystem, with the top global operators, including Starlink, preparing to roll out high-speed connectivity. photo: REUTERS Listen to article In a pivotal moment for Pakistan's digital transformation, the federal minister for planning on Thursday officially launched the National Open Data Portal, which would serve as a central platform for public access to government datasets across vital sectors such as healthcare, education, economy, environment, infrastructure and demographics. The portal was unveiled at the Pakistan Open Data Conference 2025, hosted by the National Centre in Big Data and Cloud Computing (NCBC), Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), in collaboration with the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives. This first-of-its-kind portal, developed by NCBC, is aimed at promoting transparency, empowering researchers and civil society and enabling data-driven policymaking and innovation. Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal commended the NCBC's achievement for making this national platform a reality. He stressed that it was a great privilege to be part of the journey that led to the establishment of NCBC, which had played a pivotal role in building local capacity in artificial intelligence and machine learning. "Pakistan's development narrative will now be written in codes and understood through data," the minister said, adding that leveraging digital tools was no longer optional but an urgent national priority. He called the launch of the National Open Data Portal another major milestone that would empower policymakers, researchers and the public by providing access to valuable, structured datasets across key sectors and would support better decision-making, innovation and transparency for a stronger, more data-informed Pakistan. Ahsan Iqbal concluded his speech with the message: "In a rapidly digitising world, it is no longer enough to make declarations; we must deliver results. Let's unite – the government, academia, industry and our youth – to build a data-smart, cloud-enabled, globally competitive Pakistan. The launch of the National Open Data Portal is not the conclusion; it is the beginning of a new era." The event featured live demonstrations of the portal and a high-level panel discussion titled "Harnessing the Power of Open Data" with insights from industry experts.
Business Recorder
06-06-2025
- Business Recorder
Musk-Trump breakup puts $22bn of SpaceX contracts at risk, jolting US space program
WASHINGTON: About $22 billion of SpaceX's government contracts are at risk and multiple U.S. space programs could face dramatic changes in the fallout from Elon Musk and President Donald Trump's explosive feud on Thursday. The disagreement, rooted in Musk's criticism of Trump's tax-cut and spending legislation that began last week, quickly spiraled out of control. Trump lashed out at Musk when the president spoke in the Oval Office. Then in a series of X posts, Musk launched barbs at Trump, who threatened to terminate government contracts with Musk's companies. Taking the threat seriously, Musk said he would begin 'decommissioning' SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft used by NASA. Hours later, however, Musk appeared to reverse course. Responding to a follower on X urging him and Trump to 'cool off and take a step back for a couple of days,' Musk wrote: 'Good advice. Ok, we won't decommission Dragon.' Still, Musk's mere threat to abruptly pull its Dragon spacecraft out of service marked an unprecedented outburst from one of NASA's leading commercial partners. Under a roughly $5 billion contract, the Dragon capsule has been the agency's only U.S. vessel capable of carrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station, making Musk's company a critical element of the U.S. space program. The feud raised questions about how far Trump, an often unpredictable force who has intervened in past procurement efforts, would go to punish Musk, who until last week headed Trump's initiative to downsize the federal government. SpaceX will not decommission Dragon, Musk says If the president prioritized political retaliation and canceled billions of dollars of SpaceX contracts with NASA and the Pentagon, it could slow U.S. space progress. NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens declined to comment on SpaceX, but said: 'We will continue to work with our industry partners to ensure the president's objectives in space are met.' Musk and Trump's tussle ruptured an extraordinary relationship between a U.S. president and industry titan that had yielded some key favors for SpaceX: a proposed overhaul of NASA's moon program into a Mars program, a planned effort to build a gigantic missile defense shield in space, and the naming of an Air Force leader who favored SpaceX in a contract award. Taking Dragon out of service would likely disrupt the ISS program, which involves dozens of countries under a two-decade-old international agreement. But it was unclear how quickly such a decommissioning would occur. NASA uses Russia's Soyuz spacecraft as a secondary ride for its astronauts to the ISS. Spacex's rise SpaceX rose to dominance long before Musk's foray into Republican politics last year, building formidable market share in the rocket launch and satellite communications industries that could shield it somewhat from Musk's split with Trump, analysts said. 'It fortunately wouldn't be catastrophic, since SpaceX has developed itself into a global powerhouse that dominates most of the space industry, but there's no question that it would result in significant lost revenue and missed contract opportunities,' said Justus Parmar, CEO of SpaceX investor Fortuna Investments. Under Trump in recent months, the U.S. space industry and NASA's workforce of 18,000 have been whipsawed by looming layoffs and proposed budget cuts that would cancel dozens of science programs, while the U.S. space agency remains without a confirmed administrator. Trump's nominee for NASA administrator, Musk ally and billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman, appeared to be an early casualty of Musk's rift with the president when the White House abruptly removed him from consideration over the weekend, denying Musk his pick to lead the space agency. Trump on Thursday explained dumping Isaacman by saying he was 'totally Democrat,' in an apparent reference to reports Isaacman had donated to Democrats. Isaacman has donated to some Republican but mostly Democratic candidates for office, according to public records. Musk's quest to send humans to Mars has been a critical element of Trump's space agenda. The effort has threatened to take resources away from NASA's flagship effort to send humans back to the moon. Trump's budget plan sought to cancel Artemis moon missions beyond its third mission, effectively ending the over-budget Space Launch System rocket used for those missions. Trump, Musk feud explodes with threats of cutting contracts, backing impeachment But the Senate Commerce Committee version of Trump's bill released late on Thursday would restore funding for missions four and five, providing at least $1 billion annually for SLS through 2029. Since SpaceX's rockets are a less expensive alternative to SLS, whether the Trump administration opposes the Senate's changes in the coming weeks will give an indication of Musk's remaining political power. SpaceX, founded in 2002, has won $15 billion of contracts from NASA for the company's Falcon 9 rockets and development of SpaceX's Starship, a multipurpose rocket system tapped to land NASA astronauts on the moon this decade. The company has also been awarded billions of dollars to launch a majority of the Pentagon's national security satellites into space while it builds a massive spy satellite constellation in orbit for a U.S. intelligence agency. In addition to not being in U.S. interests, former NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said canceling SpaceX's contracts would probably not be legal. But she also added, 'A rogue CEO threatening to decommission spacecraft, putting astronauts' lives at risk, is untenable.'
Business Recorder
06-06-2025
- Business Recorder
Musk-Trump breakup puts $22 billion of SpaceX contracts at risk, jolting US space program
WASHINGTON: About $22 billion of SpaceX's government contracts are at risk and multiple U.S. space programs could face dramatic changes in the fallout from Elon Musk and President Donald Trump's explosive feud on Thursday. The disagreement, rooted in Musk's criticism of Trump's tax-cut and spending legislation that began last week, quickly spiraled out of control. Trump lashed out at Musk when the president spoke in the Oval Office. Then in a series of X posts, Musk launched barbs at Trump, who threatened to terminate government contracts with Musk's companies. Taking the threat seriously, Musk said he would begin 'decommissioning' SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft used by NASA. Hours later, however, Musk appeared to reverse course. Responding to a follower on X urging him and Trump to 'cool off and take a step back for a couple of days,' Musk wrote: 'Good advice. Ok, we won't decommission Dragon.' Still, Musk's mere threat to abruptly pull its Dragon spacecraft out of service marked an unprecedented outburst from one of NASA's leading commercial partners. Under a roughly $5 billion contract, the Dragon capsule has been the agency's only U.S. vessel capable of carrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station, making Musk's company a critical element of the U.S. space program. The feud raised questions about how far Trump, an often unpredictable force who has intervened in past procurement efforts, would go to punish Musk, who until last week headed Trump's initiative to downsize the federal government. SpaceX will not decommission Dragon, Musk says If the president prioritized political retaliation and canceled billions of dollars of SpaceX contracts with NASA and the Pentagon, it could slow U.S. space progress. NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens declined to comment on SpaceX, but said: 'We will continue to work with our industry partners to ensure the president's objectives in space are met.' Musk and Trump's tussle ruptured an extraordinary relationship between a U.S. president and industry titan that had yielded some key favors for SpaceX: a proposed overhaul of NASA's moon program into a Mars program, a planned effort to build a gigantic missile defense shield in space, and the naming of an Air Force leader who favored SpaceX in a contract award. Taking Dragon out of service would likely disrupt the ISS program, which involves dozens of countries under a two-decade-old international agreement. But it was unclear how quickly such a decommissioning would occur. NASA uses Russia's Soyuz spacecraft as a secondary ride for its astronauts to the ISS. Spacex's rise SpaceX rose to dominance long before Musk's foray into Republican politics last year, building formidable market share in the rocket launch and satellite communications industries that could shield it somewhat from Musk's split with Trump, analysts said. 'It fortunately wouldn't be catastrophic, since SpaceX has developed itself into a global powerhouse that dominates most of the space industry, but there's no question that it would result in significant lost revenue and missed contract opportunities,' said Justus Parmar, CEO of SpaceX investor Fortuna Investments. Under Trump in recent months, the U.S. space industry and NASA's workforce of 18,000 have been whipsawed by looming layoffs and proposed budget cuts that would cancel dozens of science programs, while the U.S. space agency remains without a confirmed administrator. Trump's nominee for NASA administrator, Musk ally and billionaire private astronaut Jared Isaacman, appeared to be an early casualty of Musk's rift with the president when the White House abruptly removed him from consideration over the weekend, denying Musk his pick to lead the space agency. Trump on Thursday explained dumping Isaacman by saying he was 'totally Democrat,' in an apparent reference to reports Isaacman had donated to Democrats. Isaacman has donated to some Republican but mostly Democratic candidates for office, according to public records. Musk's quest to send humans to Mars has been a critical element of Trump's space agenda. The effort has threatened to take resources away from NASA's flagship effort to send humans back to the moon. Trump's budget plan sought to cancel Artemis moon missions beyond its third mission, effectively ending the over-budget Space Launch System rocket used for those missions. Trump, Musk feud explodes with threats of cutting contracts, backing impeachment But the Senate Commerce Committee version of Trump's bill released late on Thursday would restore funding for missions four and five, providing at least $1 billion annually for SLS through 2029. Since SpaceX's rockets are a less expensive alternative to SLS, whether the Trump administration opposes the Senate's changes in the coming weeks will give an indication of Musk's remaining political power. SpaceX, founded in 2002, has won $15 billion of contracts from NASA for the company's Falcon 9 rockets and development of SpaceX's Starship, a multipurpose rocket system tapped to land NASA astronauts on the moon this decade. The company has also been awarded billions of dollars to launch a majority of the Pentagon's national security satellites into space while it builds a massive spy satellite constellation in orbit for a U.S. intelligence agency. In addition to not being in U.S. interests, former NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said canceling SpaceX's contracts would probably not be legal. But she also added, 'A rogue CEO threatening to decommission spacecraft, putting astronauts' lives at risk, is untenable.'
