Japanese Astronaut Snaps Spectacular Photos of Aurora Lights Dancing Above Earth

The International Space Station’s social media accounts have been silent since October 1, coinciding with the U.S. government’s shutdown and starving fans of awesome space photographs.

But rest assured the crew onboard the ISS remains active and Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui recently shared a sumptuous photo that should satiate people’s appetite for photos taken onboard the orbiting outpost.

Yui’s photos show aurora lights dancing on the Earth’s surface with the ISS’s Kibo module dominating the foreground.

“Today, there’s a special view that I wanted everyone to see, so I pushed through my work early to make time and took this photo.” Yui writes on X via a translation. “Isn’t this one of the top five stunning views among all the photos taken from the ‘Kibo’ window? Self-praise here lol.”

“The ISS took on a different posture than usual, so the view from the window changed as well,” adds Yui. Space.com notes that Yui, an Expedition 73 flight engineer, took two photos: one showing the arc of the Milky Way Galaxy on a dark sky, while the other shows a lighter sky featuring red and green auroras simmering above Earth.

Aside from taking jaw-dropping space photos, Yui is preparing for Japan’s new HTV-X cargo vehicle to arrive at the ISS which will be carrying research materials and supplies to the space station. Yui’s job will be to catch the vehicle with the Canadarm2 robotic arm. “I’m waiting for you! I’ll catch you gently, so don’t worry!” He writes on X, per Orbital Today.

Yui’s output is well worth following. As for NASA, well Don Pettit — who splashed home earlier this year after six months living on the ISS — is still sifting through the estimated one million photos he took while in orbit.

Last week, PetaPixel spoke to photographer Babak Tafreshi who teamed up with Pettit to create a unique project: From Above & Below. Coordinating via WhatsApp, the pair shot the same objects at the same time while being separated by 250 miles of air.