Two of earth's most colorful phenomenon met just before dawn

Two of earth’s most colorful phenomenon airflow and aurora net just before dawn in this March 16 photo shot by an astronaut from International Space Station (ISS).

Auroras are the result of disturbances in the magnetosphere caused by solar wind. These disturbances are sometimes strong enough to alter the trajectories of charged particles in both solar wind and magnetospheric plasma. These particles, mainly electrons and protons, precipitate into the upper atmosphere (thermosphere/exosphere).

Airglow (also called nightglow) is a faint emission of light by a planetary atmosphere. In the case of Earth’s atmosphere, this optical phenomenon causes the night sky never to be completely dark, even after the effects of starlight and diffused sunlight from the far side are removed.

Photo posted by NASA on Instagram