Colorado is a state of stunning visas and nature, pretty much made for pictures. Above the state though? It's apparently just as picture perfect.
Even though Colorado already had one close encounter with 'strange green light' on Thursday, there's always room for more. Unlike the other sighting, which remains unexplained, this one is confirmed. What you're seeing is the Aurora Borealis, more commonly known as the 'Northern Lights' over Colorado.
This photo was taken by a crew member aboard the International Space Station. As NASA tells it:
One of the Expedition 34 crew members aboard the International Space Station captured this night panorama featuring a display of Northern Lights, also known as Aurora Borealis, and scattered lights in the more highly populated areas in the state of Colorado and possibly the states north of it. A 50 millimeter lens was used to record the image.
Don't remember some of your grade school science? The Aurora is caused by charged particles ejected from the Sun that bounce off the Earth's atmosphere.
Normally, you have to go north to see the lights. In places like Alaska and Canada the lights are easy to see, in Colorado not so much. Well, in this case, there's nothing more 'north' than orbit.
H/T to the Marshall Space Center on Flickr.
