Space station meets aurora in this stunning time-lapse video

In his final days aboard the International Space Station (ISS), NASA astronaut Don Pettit has shared a time-lapse video (below) showing the orbital outpost flying above cities at night before passing over a stunning aurora, shimmering in the darkness.  

Changes in attitude, changes in latitude: @Space_Station We rotated 180 degrees and flew backwards for yesterday’s Soyuz docking. This is a bit long but keep watching for the surprise in the middle. pic.twitter.com/UDEp8zKDwE

— Don Pettit (@astro_Pettit) April 9, 2025

“Changes in attitude, changes in latitude at the ISS,” Pettit wrote in the post. “We rotated 180 degrees and flew backwards for yesterday’s Soyuz docking. This is a bit long but keep watching for the surprise in the middle.”

The surprise is the incredible aurora, a striking display of green light caused by charged particles from the sun interacting with Earth’s magnetic field and atmosphere. We’ve seen a lot of aurora footage captured from the ISS over the years, but the intensity of this one is among the more powerful displays.

The Soyuz spacecraft that Pettit speaks of arrived on Tuesday, carrying with it NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky. They’ll live and work aboard the space station for about eight months, returning to Earth in December.

Pettit’s mission started in September last year and is expected to end some time this month.

During his time in orbit, Pettit — who at 69 is NASA’s oldest serving astronaut — has dazzled earthlings with an endless stream of breathtaking images and videos. 

A particularly striking capture shows the Betsiboka River estuary in Madagascar in a way that Pettit said reminded him of “the arteries in your retina,” while another shows the Milky Way and even Starlink satellites, among other features.

Showing off his creative skills, the American astronaut recently shared a photo featuring an “Earthly eyeball,” captured through the seven windows of the station’s Cupola module.

In an interview from the station last year, Pettit shared some insight into his space photography, explaining how he manages to capture some of his impressive shots, and why he gets such a kick out of it.