VIDEO: Astronauts on Space Station capture beautiful view of … – NBC4i.com

COLUMBUS (WCMH)Astronauts traveling in the International Space Station in late March captured a spectacular view of the Northern Lights (auroras) dancing across the polar sky. Auroras are caused when electrically charged solar particles sailing through space collide with oxygen and nitrogen gases in our atmosphere above the polar region.

The dazzling light show is normally confined to high latitudes, but occasionally is seen in the northern United States, and rarely in Ohio.

The view of these glowing auroras was captured by a crew member, who said it was hard to look away from the windows.

Perkins Observatory director Tom Burns, at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, said, We have an atmosphere to protect us. Occasionally, there is a coronal mass ejection of such magnitude that it makes it down as far as Ohio.

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VIDEO: Astronauts on Space Station capture beautiful view of ... - NBC4i.com