'Danced, Snaked Its Way Below Us': NASA Astronaut Captures Stunning Southern Lights From SpaceX

A NASA astronaut has shared a breathtaking display of the Southern Lights, aurora australis, while travelling above Earth.

Astronaut Jessica Meir, a member of the SpaceX Crew-12 mission, has released the timelapse showing the southern lights as seen from the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, according to The Guardian.

In the video, vivid green ribbons of light rippling and twisting across the atmosphere could be seen creating a rare perspective of the spectacular phenomena.

The lights appear near the poles as Earth’s magnetic field channels charged particles from the sun toward those regions, where they collide with the atmosphere and create shimmering curtains of colour, The Guardian reported.

A timelapse view from our @SpaceX Dragon of the spectacular

southern aurora seen in yesterday’s post, a result of a recent solar event. As opposed to the previous aurora I’ve seen, this one danced and snaked its way directly below us, putting on quite a show. I am in awe of this… pic.twitter.com/ReztjH3x9H

— Jessica Meir (@Astro_Jessica) June 7, 2026

Along with the video, Meir also shared a post describing her experience as unlike previous auroras she had witnessed.

She said: “A timelapse view from our SpaceX Dragon of the spectacular southern aurora seen in yesterday’s post, a result of a recent solar event.”

“As opposed to the previous aurora I’ve seen, this one danced and snaked its way directly below us, putting on quite a show. I am in awe of this ethereal and emotionally evocative phenomenon,” she added.

In another post, the astronaut said: “There is a lot going on right now on the Space Station, but fortunately we are all safe and witnessed a spectacular southern aurora show yesterday thanks to a recent solar event.”

What Is Aurora Australis?

Aurora is a Latin word for “dawn” and a name of Roman goddess of the dawn. People living far from the Arctic Circle usually see a faint red glow to north.

According to NASA, auroras, also known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis), are colorful, dynamic, and often visually delicate displays of an intricate dance of particles and magnetism between the Sun and Earth called space weather.

The phenomenon happens when energetic particles from space collide with atoms and molecules in the atmosphere causing the colourful glow.