This One Photo: Australia's aurora captured in space

A fantastic photo (and short video) of the Aurora Australis are captured by NASA astronaut Terry Virts. "Flying away from one of the most incredible auroras I've seen," said Virts, "just west of Australia." In addition to capturing the photo you're about to see full size, Virts also captured a Vine. That means he captured one of the most fantastical visions most humans on Earth will never see from his position with a camera that then bashed the video down to miniature size in order for us normal citizens to be able to see, over and over again.

Above you'll see one edition of the photo captured by Virts. We also have a full sized version of the photo available without compression. Without further compression, that is, it's already been compressed by Twitter.

Below you'll see the Vine. This Vine video was captured just moments after the International Space Station, where Virts is stationed, as it were, passed through the aurora.

While the crew passed through the aurora, everything was alight in green.

When the article you're reading is set to be published, Virts will have posted the aurora five days ago. Below you'll see some additional captures by Virts in the days between then and now.

Above you'll see the sun touching the atmosphere of our earth. Again, these tiny videos are all being captured from the International Space Station by astronaut Terry W. Virts.

Below you'll see Virts' capture of Typhoon Dolphin, caught between Guam, the Philippines, and Japan.

BONUS: Here's another aurora – also green – captured back on the 22nd of April, 2015. Loveliness!

Have a peek at more Space articles to see additional fantastic visions from space!