Astronaut spots bright aurora storm from space

NASA astronaut Bob Hines captured a spectacular aurora sparked by a solar storm in space. The pictures were taken from the International Space Station after a moderate solar outburst.

Hines tweeted the pictures showing the storm hitting the Earth's atmosphere, with the caption, "Absolutely SPECTACULAR aurora today!!!" and "Thankful for the recent solar activity resulting in these wonderful sights."

The northern lights occur when the sun hurls charged particles toward Earth generating a moderate or G2-class storm. This is called coronal mass ejection, as the particles hurled get attracted by the planet's magnetic field.

Solar storms are usually harmless on Earth but on rare occasions can create infrastructure issues, cutting off power lines and satellites. Earlier this week, European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, also tweeted about witnessing auroras from space.