Aurora Australis as Seen From the ISS. This tremendous view is a southern aurora as seen from aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Picture was taken by ISS crewmember NASA astronaut Don Pettit on February, 16th 2003. It is showing an aurora occurring above Earth night side, as left blue-dark line is where Sun just set. Auroras are triggered by solar wind reaching Earth magnetic field. Atoms in the upper atmosphere are glowing. Auroras come in two flavours: northern and southern, depending on if they occur in northern or southern hemisphere. ISS crews are treated with views of auroras from above. Auroras may be seen too from ground in northern or southernmost latitudes, like in Alaska or Canada. picture courtesy of Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center (picture ISS006-E-28961), http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/