NASA captured an absolutely stunning video of the aurora - from space. With the help of some new equipment, this new video reveals that lights dance along the atmosphere of our planet.
The new time-lapse video produced by Harmonic uses the latest 4K Ultra HD technology to highlight the gorgeous purples and greens seen in the aurora. The device uses an end-to-end video delivery system that gives live and linear video content. This gives viewers crystal clear footage that they can enjoy on a wide range of television and IP-connected devices.
The footage itself shows a time-lapse shot from the International Space Station. It shows both the Aurora Borealis and the Aurora Australis. These auroras occur when electrically charged electrons and protons in Earth's magnetic field collide with neutral atoms in the upper atmosphere. These auroras are usually seen in high latitude regions and become especially active during solar activity, such as when there's a coronal mass ejection (CME) that hurls particles toward Earth's atmosphere.
After the sun becomes active and hurls particles toward Earth, it can take up to three days for the particles to reach our planet. These solar particles then cause the release of particles already trapped near Earth. This, in turn, causes reactions in the upper atmosphere in which oxygen and nitrogen molecules release photons of light. This results in the Northern and Southern lights, also known as Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis.
NASA has actually dedicated several missions to studying auroras, which are just one symptom of a larger space weather system. Understanding space weather itself is important. This is largely because powerful solar storms have the potential to knock out communications and impact satellites in space. Being able to predict these storms and prepare for them is a large part of better understanding space weather.
With that said, the current video simply shows off the capabilities of the 4K Ultra HD technology, while at the same time giving viewers a glimpse of what the auroras look like from space. It's certainly a view that you are unlikely to forget.
The video itself has been posted on YouTube.
