Auroras seem to spread across the sky above us. From Earth we can only see a tiny section of the aurora's ring that circles the Earth. Just as the auroras move and dance in the sky above us, the ring changes as well.

Look at the image to the left and below. Can you tell where the center of the ring seems to be? Is more of the ring on the day or night side of the Earth? How many miles thick do you think the ring is? On Earth, where do you think that you could see this aurora? Do you think that you can see it from where you are?

Satellites look at many different types of light emitted by an object. To the right is an image of the x-ray light emitted by the Earth's aurora. Where do you think the most intense auroral activity is? If you would like to see other examples of images in non-visible light, check out How Satellites See.

Auroras are generally centered over the Earth's magnetic poles. During an aurora, rings form around the North and South poles at the same time. You can see that more of the ring seems to be on the nightime side of the Earth. Any ideas why?

This image shows the tail of the Space Shuttle as it orbits above an aurora.

Taken from the Space Shuttle, this image shows the charateristic ring shape of an aurora.

Auroras are about 80 to 130 km (50 miles) above Earth. The width and size of the ring change each time. A bigger ring would be seen by people in lower latitudes on the Earth. Usually though, only people high in the north or south get to see them.

What Do Auroras Look Like From Space? Listen to Maurico Peredo of NASA's Goddard Space Center. To Listen to this clip you will need the RealAudio player.

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