This Amazing Timelapse Footage Of The Northern Lights From Space Will Make You Believe In God

I think it may be educational to define what an ‘aurora’ is, because if you’re a dumbass like me, you may have thought it was the name of an Indie band.

According to my source (Wikipedia),

An aurora is a natural light display in the sky, predominantly seen in the high latitude. Aurorae are caused by cosmic rays, solar wind and magnetospheric plasma interacting with the upper atmosphere. Their charged particles, mainly electrons and protons, enter the atmosphere from above causing ionization and excitation of atmospheric constituents, and consequent light emissions.

Ya, that.

The amazing footage you’re seeing is from NASA astronaut Scott Kelly who captured the scene from the International Space Station where he’s on a year-long mission to collect essential scientific data for future human exploration in space.

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He took very rare sunrise footage on the 141st day of his year in space and shared it with us via Twitter. It’s probably best to look at these stoned. Space is always cooler when you can’t feel your face.

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[h/t Mashable]

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Matt’s love of writing was born during a sixth grade assembly when it was announced that his essay titled “Why Drugs Are Bad” had taken first prize in D.A.R.E.’s grade-wide contest. The anti-drug people gave him a $50 savings bond for his brave contribution to crime-fighting, and upon the bond’s maturity 10 years later, he used it to buy his very first bag of marijuana.