The Northern Lights as you've never seen them before: Astronaut takes amazing photo as ISS hurtles through space



It's an image which lends a new gravitas to the well-worn phrase room with a view.

But this is exactly what astronaut Soichi Noguchi saw from inside the International Space Station (ISS) as it hurtled towards aurora borealis - or the northern lights - at 28,000km per hour (17,500mph).

After taking the spellbinding photograph and then travelling through the aurora itself, he posted it on Twitter for all to see.

A photo of the aurora taken from the ISS

Astronaut Soichi posted this picture with the caption: 'Aurora, Moon, and my home away from home.'

The photo shows a green glow hovering approximately 60miles above the Earth's surface.

This natural light display is created when particles enter the atmosphere and collide with oxygen and nitrogen atoms, giving them an electric charge.

The extraordinary red glow above it can reach up to 300miles above our planet. This means that Mr Noguchi's online boast of travelling through the aurora is technically correct as the space station was 240miles above Earth.

The craft in the foreground of the picture is a Progress capsule, which brings supplies such as food, water and air to the ISS.

Mr Noguchi, who is known as Astro_Soichi on Twitter, and his Expedition 22 colleagues recently broke the world record for the number of photos taken by an ISS crew. They have snapped over 100,000 images of space in an accumulated six months in the craft.

The total number of photos taken by crew members aboard the ISS now totals 639,000.

Explorers: Noguchi (top left) and his ISS crewmates Oleg Kotov (top centre), Timothy Creamer (top right), Tracy Caldwell Dyson (front right), Alexander Skvortsov (front central) and Mikhail Korniyenko (front left)

A stunning clear view of Earth showing the Vietnam Pacific coast

Mr Noguchi won't be the only Japanese astronaut aboard the ISS after Naoko Yamazaki became the second woman from her country to fly into space over the Bank Holiday weekend.

She was one of three women among seven astronauts who blasted off in space shuttle Discovery and is taking Japanese curry and noodles up to Mr Noguchi, who has been up there for three months.

The three women on board Discovery will join a fourth already at the space station, setting a record for the most women in space at the same time.