Auroras over Australia look like sci-fi from space | Space photo of the day for May 15, 2026

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The aurora australis shone brilliantly over Earth as astronauts watched from above.

In a new image captured by European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot from aboard the International Space Station, you can see a spectacular aurora above the Indian Ocean off the coast of Perth, Australia.

What is it?

On May 7, 2026 at approximately 10:20 p.m. aboard the ISS, Adenot snapped a photo that looks straight out of a sci-fi movie. She captured the image as the space station orbited 268 miles (431 kilometers) above Earth.

The aurora australis can be seen below as a stream of green and pink light hovering over our planet against the blackness of space.

Adenot arrived at the space station on Valentine's Day of this year, as part of SpaceX's eight-month-long Crew-12 mission. She flew to the station alongside mission commander NASA astronaut Jessica Meir, mission pilot NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedaev.

Why is it incredible?

The aurora australis is better known as the southern lights. It occurs in the Southern Hemisphere and, while it's most often seen above the Antarctic Circle, people in places including Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and some southern regions of South America can sometimes spot the aurora, as we can see in this image.

Auroras are spectacular natural fireworks that happen in the night sky. They are created when charged particles emitted by the sun — either during events like flares and coronal mass ejections or just during regular solar activity — interact with Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere.

To see an aurora on Earth is a bucket-list item for many people. Getting this view from space goes beyond even that, shining a uniquely spectacular light on the phenomenon as you can almost see where exactly in our planet's atmosphere these solar particles are hitting, interacting, and creating this colorful display.