Nasa Video Shows Northern Lights From Space

Stunning new videos showing a solar storm hitting the Earth have been released by Nasa.

The video was created using time-lapsed images taken from the International Space Station (ISS), 225 miles above the Earth.

Nasa scientist Melissa Dawson came up with the idea in August after seeing pictures that were taken three seconds apart from the ISS as it moved along the eastern coast of North and South America.

"Right now the cameras on board have a much higher resolution than a video camera would so we can capture a lot of other things from our videos if we use time lapsed photography," she said.

"So, instead of looking at a dim star field from a video camera, we can see actual constellations and, you know, the Milky Way or we can see city lights brighter than ever."

The video shows the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, in the northern hemisphere - its counterpart in the southern hemisphere is called the Aurora Australis.

Auroras form when a 'solar wind' of electrically-charged particles from the Sun enters the Earth's magnetic field, causing them to accelerate and crash into the planet's upper atmosphere and emit a multi-coloured glow.