Dec 10 2008
aurora australis from space
This shot shows the Aurora Australis from the Space Shuttle in May 1991, at the last peak of the geomagnetic maximum. This is somehow even cooler than seeing it from the ground.
NASA serves up the best cool space photos ever. Mostly US Government Public Domain as well! That’s why Wikipedia is full of NASA photos and not European Space Agency photos — NASA says “use our stuff! please!”, ESA says “all rights reserved.” ESA later had the gall to complain that Wikipedia used NASA’s images rather than theirs.
See also the NASA Johnson Space Center Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.
Photo “Aurora Australis” (STS039-342-28) from Earth Observatory Image of the Day. Taken on Kodak Ektapress 5030 ISO1600 negative film with a 35mm Nikon, with great care. Here’s the version without colour correction. US Government public domain.
