{"id":565912,"date":"2026-07-02T22:13:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T22:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/565912\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T22:13:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T22:13:15","slug":"astronaut-captures-dazzling-aurora-dancing-above-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/565912\/","title":{"rendered":"Astronaut Captures Dazzling Aurora Dancing Above Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Spectacular_austral_aurora_pillars-header-800x534.jpg\" alt=\"The image shows a vivid green aurora swirling over Earth's curved horizon, viewed from the International Space Station with part of the station\u2019s structure visible at the top.\" width=\"800\" height=\"534\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-861971\"   loading=\"eager\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p>\n<p>ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot (@soph_astro) was recently treated to incredible, dazzling aurora displays in space while aboard the International Space Station (ISS). While Adenot and the ESA shared photos last month, Adenot just shared an incredible video of auroras from space on social media today. <\/p>\n<p>A week ago, Adenot posted a series of eight images of an aurora on day 127 of her first space flight, which began in February 2026. Adenot, who remains in space today, has been up there for nearly 137 days. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DZzvaN_gnk2\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\"><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cDay 127, orbit 1968 \u2014 That aurora was absolutely spectacular\u2026 shimmering and dancing beneath us, stretching as far as the eye could see, and so intense it lit up the Station in shades of green,\u201d Adenot <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DZzvaN_gnk2\/?img_index=8\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"follow external noopener nofollow\">wrote<\/a> on Instagram. <\/p>\n<p>The 43-year-old Adenot, who will celebrate her 44th birthday on Sunday aboard the ISS, has had an illustrious career in the military and space exploration. Adenot joined the French Air and Space Force in 2005 and achieved the rank of Colonel. She was selected for the European Astronaut Corps in 2022. <\/p>\n<p>Today, Adenot shared her timelapse video of what she describes as \u201cthe most spectacular aurora of the \u03b5psilon mission so far!\u201d <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DaS-P9QMbjz\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\"><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cWatching this glowing green ribbon shimmer and dance, it\u2019s easy to lose yourself completely in the magic of the moment,\u201d the astronaut explains. <\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, Russian cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov <a href=\"https:\/\/petapixel.com\/2026\/01\/21\/solar-storm-turbocharges-aurora-lights-in-dazzling-photos-from-space-and-earth\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">shared<\/a> spectacular footage of an aurora as seen from the ISS. Astronaut Zena Cardman shared a <a href=\"https:\/\/petapixel.com\/2025\/11\/19\/astronaut-captures-spectacular-aurora-lights-dancing-above-the-united-states\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">lovely video of auroras<\/a> from space late last year. And, of course, who could forget veteran astronaut and exceptional photographer Don Pettit\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/petapixel.com\/2025\/04\/07\/astronaut-captures-vibrant-green-aurora-from-space\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">aurora videos<\/a> captured aboard the ISS last year? <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/petapixel.com\/2025\/12\/08\/15-inspiring-photos-from-northern-lights-photographer-of-the-year-2025\/\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Auroras look incredible from Earth<\/a>, of course, but it\u2019s hard to beat the magic of an aurora seen from space. <\/p>\n<p>Auroras are not the only spectacular sight Adenot has captured using timelapse photography techniques aboard the ISS. As the ESA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esa.int\/ESA_Multimedia\/Videos\/2026\/05\/Earth_views_at_night_during_the_Lyrids_meteor_shower_-_epsilon_mission\/(lang)\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"follow external noopener nofollow\">explains<\/a>, Adenot captured a timelapse of Earth at night during the Lyrids meteor shower in mid-May. <\/p>\n<p>The incredible video shows meteors, auroras, thunderstorms, and more. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Image credits:<\/strong> ESA\/NASA \u2014 S. Adenot  <\/p>\n<p>PetaPixel articles may include affiliate links; if you buy something through such a link, PetaPixel may earn a commission.<\/p>\n<p>Love PetaPixel? Go Premium.<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 20px\">PetaPixel is the world\u2019s largest independent photography publication and we\u2019re only able to continue our work with your help. <a href=\"https:\/\/petapixel.com\/members\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Become a PetaPixel Member now<\/a> and support our mission to bring you regular, high-quality reviews, features, news, and more.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"margin-left: 20px\">\n<li>Remove banner ads<\/li>\n<li>Gain access to full-resolution RAW and JPEG <a href=\"https:\/\/petapixel.com\/sample-galleries\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sample Galleries<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Get 5% off orders from KEH.com<\/li>\n<li>Get a $15 coupon to spend at Moment<\/li>\n<li>Get 10% off lighting equipment from FJ Westcott<\/li>\n<li>Get 10% off film development, scanning, and printing from Blue Moon Camera and Machine<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ESA astronaut Sophie Adenot (@soph_astro) was recently treated to incredible, dazzling aurora displays in space while aboard the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[270],"tags":[9124,18,6145,19,148285,17,15519,1024,133,241595,451,86418],"class_list":["post-565912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-aurora","tag-eire","tag-esa","tag-ie","tag-internationalspacestation","tag-ireland","tag-iss","tag-nasa","tag-science","tag-sophieadenot","tag-space","tag-timelapse"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116852688059224289","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}