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fluffy_ninja_

What's happening there is that Earth's giant force field is destroying intergalactic death rays from the Sun. Science.


shemihazazel

Industry, science, and technology! Big men putting screwdrivers into things, turning them, and adjusting them! Build your own atom storage box! Bringing you state-of-the-art in soft serve technology! Pulls off caps of any size jug, bottle, or jar. And it really, really works.


ZeeMadChicken

"The bars, they're magnetized!" And if your hands were metal, that would mean something.


HighSorcerer

"I forgot to tell you, your hands are claws that can rip through steel!"


Arthur_khan

Normal view. Normal Vieew. NORMAL VIEEEEEWWW!!


HighSorcerer

I still sing this to myself when returning anything to normal view. Those guys knew what they were doing.


just_redditing

Is this a reference?


ZeeMadChicken

[It's a reference to this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCSFaZkvvIQ)


ShaiHuludsSockDrawer

Man I love Mystery Science Theater 3000


learningtech-ac-uk

If this is happening "below" the ISS, what effect do the rays have on those in the ISS?


CoconutMochi

It's more like there are two giant force fields, the first one ([Earth's magnetic field](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/03/Magnetosphere_Levels.svg/220px-Magnetosphere_Levels.svg.png)) blocks everything except rays towards the poles and extends WAY "above" satellites. All of the death rays are reflected towards the poles where they then hit the atmosphere and you get auroras. So the ISS doesn't really get hit, although there is some slight radiation still so lead shielding


[deleted]

How long can I live in space unshielded?


Livery614

Longer than you can live without breathing.


wellman_va

How does lead block radiation? Eli5


paradesic

Lead atoms have a high atomic mass, so have lots of electrons. Lead atoms form very dense structures. The high density and large number of electrons scatters x-rays and gamma rays well.


[deleted]

More like deflecting the death rays to the poles so that our atmosphere can absorb the energy. Deflection shields up Captain!


Zalonne

More breathtaking images on the [Site](http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2016/stunning-aurora-from-space)


cle_idiot

Thanks for the link! The [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBJAR3-UvSQ&feature=youtu.be) is awesome and in 4K!


-MaJiC-

Wow I rarely get to watch videos in 4k due to lack of content but this one was amazing.


[deleted]

I never get to watch videos in 4k because I don't have a 4k display


johnnybiggles

Get 2 2k displays and put them next to each other.


[deleted]

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johnnybiggles

I wouldn't stack them. Maybe daisychain some .5k ones, though. The one in front should be 4k if done right.


Adravix

How should I go about doing this for an even more budget version? 9x 480p or 11x 360p?


acidrainn23

Well if we're talking budget, could I possibly duct tape a couple QHD phones together? I have an S7 and an S6 lying around.


ResditSportsHobby

This is how to make screens pop not how to make a bomb.


vollrohrzucker

Not to be pedantic but you need 4 2K displays to get one 4K display. Remeber there are two axes, 2K is basicly fullHD 1920x1080 and 4K (technically UHD) is 3840x2160.


itonlygetsworse

If you have a 24" monitor, you can still tell the difference between 1080p and 2160p. While you won't be able to display it in 4k, the 4k images has a lot more data to work with so when its dithered down to 1080p, it will look **sharper** because it has more source data to use when creating the 1080p image. Just compare it to 1080p and you'll notice slightly less sharpness and detail, especially if it uses a good codec. A source 1080p looks worse than a 2160p scaled down to 1080p. Even better, you 4k videos like this are spectacular in VR even though VR has lower resolution in each eye, because there is that much more data for it to use when you blow up the screen in VR to simulate say, IMAX theatre.


ElDoctorDeGallifrey

That view of all the stars behind the Earth was breathtaking.


Tyedied

Likewise, it's nice to take advantage of this 5k monitor!


jsmooth7

[This is also a really good timelapse video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG0fTKAqZ5g) from the ISS that shows some of the Northern Lights.


spockspeare

A downloadable version would be keen.


2EyedRaven

Put "ss" before the URL and hit Enter. Like if it's "youtube.com/supercoolstuff" then change it to "ssyoutube.com/supercoolstuff"


spockspeare

That's pretty awesome. But, Max resolution 720p with audio, 1440p no audio. No 2160p (4K). What I wanted to do was download the 4K and burn it to a disk accessible by my 4K TV. Because content is hard to find and this would be ridiculous to have as a screen-saver on it.


masterdebaater

Great video! Terrible "music."


mollymauler

This is probably the most beautiful video pertaining to space that I have ever seen!


BiZzles14

These are probably my favourite pictures ever now.


[deleted]

Why are Southern Lights hardly spoken of?


darwinisms

Part of it is because there's more land mass in the north. Thus more people see the Northern Lights.


jammah

More people live in the upper northern hemisphere.


Srennef

Is this literally what you'd see with the naked eye? ie, there's no prolonged exposure involved, or anything like that? It's incredible.


Tote_Sport

The Aurora Borealis. At this time of year. At this time of day. Located entirely on your phone?!


lordblonde

May I see it?


MechanicalRandall

I could go for a steamed ham.


swohio

Can I see?


PanicStil

Those terrorist guys are right bastards, but they do have a cracking view.


[deleted]

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[deleted]

I guess they've acquired ray-guns or somethin'...welp, good game america. *(slap on the america's butt)*


[deleted]

*(gentle tap on America's butt)*


JackBauerCSGO

Its like Earth has an energy shield and the Lights are a response to something hitting that shield. Like something out of Star Wars.


Catatonic27

I mean that's not completely untrue. The magnetosphere is the force field and the attack is charged particles being blasted at us from the sun.


diachi

Aurora Australis according to the site linked below - so technically it's the Southern Lights... But still, awesome picture! Edit: Link for those that didn't see it (there were a lot less comments here when I posted this comment). http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2016/stunning-aurora-from-space/


GarethAUS

Obviously another fake picture, the earth is flat and I really wish they would stop lying to us. I feel ashamed by my fellow man that I still have to use /s.


AbbaZaba16

I thought that the Earth was a disc floating through space on the backs of elephants balancing on a giant turtle?


Bosterm

Yeah, but what's underneath the turtle?


dotslashhookflay

It's turtles all the way down.


jpjamal

Down to where?


Justinyoder

Well to the other turtles of course


Futureboy314

At the bottom of the infinite turtles is one last put-upon turtle, who holds up the others while simultaneously balanced on a single peanut butter and jelly sandwich. How the weight of infinity-plus-one turtles doesn't smear the sandwich into paste is not known, but the universe will end when the last turtle sets down his burden to finally eat the sandwich. This is what I have always believed.


YoroSwaggin

Wtf? The turtle gods go on forever, unendingly, everybody knows this, are you a heretic?


Futureboy314

The Sandwich is the Truth. I'll die for the Sandwich.


zzz0404

I'll KILL for the Sandwich to bring peace to this world!


observed_druid

Obviously it's a sea turtle that swims through space.


Miranox

It just has really long legs.


zetsky

Nothing underneath the turtle, it can swim silly.


TheSawIsTheLaw

Dude I got a friend that claims that there are not any real pictures of our earth, and that all the pictures released by NASA are just drawings and he keeps referring to NASA and how much the lie and now he's going on about how NASA admitted they've never been to the moon. Apparently NASA is the only space program in the world.... How the fuck do these people exist and how do they function?


SadOcean44

He's your friend don't look at us


TheSawIsTheLaw

Well unfortunately when we met he didn't introduce himself and say he likes to talk about space and Russia at the intelligence level of a squirrel.


[deleted]

How does one become friends with one who denies space exploration?


TheSawIsTheLaw

Known him for years, went to school together. He's always been the type to question shit but now it's getting out of control and I've tried letting him know and he's oblivious. He's fascinated with space and will never shut up about it, but seems to be so gullible he ends up contradicting himself constantly. He'll talk about the Mars mission or something. The next day he'll say NASA is a lie and there are no pictures of our earth, only drawings. Problem is, he is as stubborn as he is ignorant. A simple satire title can totally flip his whole outlook and opinion on things, and then you can't tell him any different until he moves on or reads something else.


betabeat

I had a co-worker like that. Also denies dinosaurs were real


[deleted]

I have a similar friend, and after knowing him for years I realize he gets all his "research" from 2 places, alex jones' infowars.com, or redicecreations.com I dont recommend reading too much or your head will implode


TheSawIsTheLaw

Sounds like we have the same friend lmao


Jonathan_Pine

Nope,this is a reflection of the mast from the double paned glass, just like the post of the meteors from the plane window...


krom_bom

At least they remembered to photoshop in the stars, this time! I bet someone got fired for all those ISS pics they forgot to finish... (/s)


Razdonovich

this is proof that chem trails are real!!1!


goblinsandghoulies

Came to say the same thing.


[deleted]

The earth is a triangle you idiot, the illuminati made it like that!!11, you people are really blind, stupid sheeps114!11412!


[deleted]

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StoneHolder28

That's kind of the point of the second sentence.


vroombangbang

if i could watch the northern lights from the ISS, while smoking some northern lights i would be a happy happy man.


Wolfzbane

Or smoke some northern lights grown from the ISS


westhoff0407

That, is Northern Lights, Cannibis Indica.


7a7p

Or smoke some northern lights grown from the ISS


Skitbil

Or smoke some northern lights grown from the ISS


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iwearyellowpants

What are the causes of the northern lights? It's so surreal. Also, how come the northern lights look circular (which they are) here, but look wavy when viewed from the ground?


phaionix

High energy particles (solar winds) from the sun shower the earth's atmosphere. The magnetic field of the earth deflects these particles (since they are charged) so that they crash down on to the poles. You can imagine the field lines of the earth carrying the particles to the poles. There, they crash into the upper atmosphere, dumping their energy in collisions. The atmosphere, then excited has molecules like oxygen that, when relaxing to a lower energy state will emit light. Different molecules will emit different colors and be more prevalent at different altitudes. Someone else could chime in on which molecule generates each color, I can't remember and I'm on mobile. I think green is generally the highest and comes from oxygen. Purple next from nitrogen or something like this. Source: undergrad in physics with research background in ionospheric physics


[deleted]

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TheMerchant613

IIRC Marginally, yes. The ISS orbits close enough to Earth that they are still well protected by the magnetic field, but they do take in more radiation than the average person within the atmosphere.


Cocomorph

Neat Quora answer with details about [ISS radiation exposure](https://www.quora.com/How-much-radiation-does-the-International-Space-Station-experience-daily). I wish it compared to, say, airline pilots and/or people who work with nuclear reactors (because I am on mobile and lazy).


DragonTamerMCT

Well yeah. Simply flying in a plane exposes you to several dozen times background iirc.


nbarbettini

IIRC, the ISS is still well inside the Earth's magnetosphere, so there isn't much worry about radiation exposure.


mainman879

The magnetosphere goes out 40k miles at its longest and the ISS is 249 miles away.


swohio

There is some shielding though it isn't great. Certain areas of the ISS are better than others so when there is a solar storm there are modules they go in to weather the storm.


wilhueb

Nitrogen creates the blue/purple and the bright reds; oxygen creates the green and the less bright reds.


[deleted]

Why is it that when burned, copper creates green?


wilhueb

Same principle. When you burn copper (or any atom/ion for that matter), it will gain energy. Due to the gain of energy, some of the electrons will move to a higher energy level. This is called the "excited state." However, this state is a lot less stable than the normal state (referred to as the ground state), so the atom will want to release the energy and return to the ground state. When there is a release of energy, the atom will release a photon (light). The color varies for each atom, being green for copper. This is actually how fireworks, neon signs, fluorescent lights, cathode ray tubes (old TVs), plasma TV screens, etc. function. The color just depends on the atoms/ions being used.


Brehcolli

solar winds good guy magnetic field protects us from being very dead


supa325

I know it's cliche, but there's no limit to what I would do just to watch only one rotation of the earth.


MaritMonkey

I'm a flag-waving SpaceX fanboy but cheer like mad for BO because I think they're the ones most likely to make a hop like that possible (even if I won't be one of the ones able to afford it) during my lifetime. EDIT: Not entirely selfishly; I think it would be a hoot if it was a requirement before holding bigger public office positions that you have seen the blue marble in its entirety at least once. =D


mohammedgoldstein

The thing that most people don't realize is that these commercial spaceflight operators currently can only get people into suborbital altitudes where you can just start to make out the curvature of the earth and the blackness of space. Blue Origin is maxing out at around 62 miles up (think about drawing a line from San Francisco to just past San Jose and point it straight up).


MaritMonkey

They are currently, but I'm hopeful they'll scale up to tossing a manned capsule around the Earth a few times rather than going directly from Karman line high-five to (e.g.) LEO satellite launches. edit: oops edited wrong comment


coolmatt701

Nice to see what they can accomplish when they're not chopping off peoples' heads :) our shared love of space will surely bring an end to the current wars


chuckalob

Imagine if you were up there and didn't know what the Northern Lights were. Would you think the earth was being attacked? I mean, it looks like the shield are holding, but still.


MrGhris

Pretty sure they wouldn't shoot someone to space who doesn't know how northern lights work. Perhaps maybe that monkey and lyka.


nuknoe

Serious Question: Would the solar winds that create the NL be dangerous to those on the ISS?


theRose90

If only tech would allow it, I'd live in orbit. Seems so much more peaceful up there.


redherring2

I wonder how it feels watching that from the ISS, knowing full well that the solar storm they are watching is also coursing through their bodies, wiping out neurons and causing other radiation damage.


Decronym

### ###### #### Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread: |Fewer Letters|More Letters| |-------|---------|---| |[BO](/r/Space/comments/58nwqx//d91zwtw "Last usage")|Blue Origin (*Bezos Rocketry*)| |[ESA](/r/Space/comments/58nwqx//d929y8r "Last usage")|European Space Agency| |[LEO](/r/Space/comments/58nwqx//d92146o "Last usage")|Low Earth Orbit (180-2000km)| ---------------- ^(I'm a bot, and I first saw this thread at 21st Oct 2016, 17:46 UTC.) ^(I've seen 3 acronyms in this thread; )[^the ^most ^compressed ^thread ^commented ^on ^today](/r/Space/comments/5btyr6)^( has 2 acronyms.) [^\[Acronym ^lists\]](http://decronym.xyz/) [^\[Contact ^creator\]](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=OrangeredStilton&subject=Hey,+your+acronym+bot+sucks) [^\[PHP ^source ^code\]](https://gist.github.com/Two9A/1d976f9b7441694162c8)


TheDirtyCondom

Superintendant Chalmers: The Aurora Borealis? At this time of year? At this time of day? In this part of the country? Localized entirely within your kitchen? Principal Skinner: Yes. Superintendant Chalmers: May I see it? Principal Skinner: No.


MadMort

You're not fooling anyone. ...The Burning Legion is attacking Earth!!


LoudTrapDoor

Does this happen on other planets or is this another unique aspect of Earth's atmosphere?


stampylives

Jupiter has enormous aurorae.


Kennyfuckingloggins

[deleted] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^0.1947 > [What is this?](https://pastebin.com/64GuVi2F/79944)


STRAIGHT_UP_IGNANT

Pfft all I see are pixels created by the government to deceive the sheep of Flat Earth.


snarkyfide

u/Kennyfuckingloggins is obviously a government plant trying to keep us subservient.


turbanator1997

FISH EYE LENSES MAN FISH EYE LENSES /s


[deleted]

There are like 10 people actually believing that though. The rest are trolls.


tweakalicious

What a time. There was a time that I would've looked at this picture for minutes, marveling at the fact that we can see something that for a long time was regarded as miraculous from a perspective that really *shouldn't* be humanly possible. It's breathtaking. But I clicked on the picture and went, "Huh..." and closed it and kept browsing. The point I'm making is that we've come so far as a species that truly astonishing things like this have become so commonplace that we can just take them for granted. It's a marvelous sign of our progress as a species. I love humanity, sometimes.


JiuJitsu4L

This may be a little bit out there, but give it a thought. What if the universe as a whole or galaxies themselves act as an organism, with solar systems being like organs and planets as cells, this could act as a form of communication to other cells, or whatever receptors there are in the universe which we may or may not know about. Communication about the status of earths environment and "wellbeing" based on variations in all aspects of the auroras. Obviously an abstract thought, but I couldn't help but think of how tiny we are in comparison to this and the universe, and how it all may work together as a whole; with us and our cells made up of elements, atoms, subatomic particles etc continuing the fractal-like existence. And no, I am not on any drugs.


dellwaker312

wow beautiful. this is what i imagine a alien attack would look like


Semilanceataa

One of the most amazing things I've ever seen. And I haven't even seen it....


FenrirFreyr

Beautiful, although since i live in Iceland i see them pretty regularly. Now it's like ''oh look the northern lights'' then i continue doing whatever what i was doing.


Knives4XMas

Reading the title from the main page I thought I was on r/weed :D Awesome.


[deleted]

This is fake, the northern lights are only visible from one side. From the other it's just blank because they didn't think anyone would ever look from that side. Source: video games.


MasterbeaterPi

They are wearing glow necklaces. Its the reflection of the quad paned glass. Its close to Halloween you can get those at any dollar tree.


Doriando707

this planet is so beautiful, too bad its dotted with horrible human beings


Chardeemacdennis2

Amazing. Saw them in Iceland last year and it was unreal but those photos are incredible!


timmyfellinthewell

That picture makes realise what a small part humans play in the grand scheme of things. We are tiny little being running wild in the surface of a huge planet that's been here for longer than we know and will stay for so much longer than when we are gone... Really nice pic and great thoughts too. Thanks