‘I’ve never seen this before’: Astronaut captures incredible aurora spectacle as seen from space

If you have ever seen the aurora phenomenon on Earth, you’ll be stunned to see what it looks like from orbit.

International Space Station resident and NASA astronaut Scott Kelly posted the amazing pictures and video on his Twitter page during recent intense geomagnetic activity following several severe solar storms.

In the first of a series of pictures, the space flight veteran remarked “I’ve never seen this before – red”, sharing an image of the Earth doused in hues of red and minty green.

A short time-lapse video posted by Mr Kelly showcases the magnificent view that astronauts are privy to aboard the International Space Station, hundreds of kilometres above the Earth’s surface.

The video reveals the colours of the aurora morphing and blending into one another, shades of red and violet mixing together at high altitude.

Another picture is captioned with “I don’t think I will ever see another quite like you again” – a possibility, considering solar storms of this strength only occur every sixty days out of eleven years.

The geomagnetic storms currently affecting the Earth are the result of a mid-level solar flare that erupted from the surface of the sun earlier this week.

NASA and the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Centre have advised that geomagnetic activity is still rated at ‘G4’, indicating a potential to disrupt satellites in orbit and cause voltage control problems for power grids on the ground.

More likely, however, is that both astronauts as well as those stuck on Earth will have several more nights of magnificent auroras to look forward to.

Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Korniyenko both arrived at the space station in March 2015 ahead of a year-long mission to test human endurance in a weightless environment, an experiment that will contribute to future plans for a return to the Moon and a manned landing on Mars.