{"date":"2025-12-08","explanation":"Many wonders are visible when flying over th e Earth at night. Such visual spectacles occur every day for astronauts in low Earth orbit, but the featured video captured several from the International Spac e Station (ISS) in 2011 and set them to rousing music. Passing below are white clouds, orange city lights, lightning flashes in thunderstorms, and dark blue se as. On the horizon is the golden haze of Earth's thin atmosphere, frequently de corated by dancing auroras as the video progresses. The green parts of auroras typically remain below the space station, but the station flies right through th e red and purple auroral peaks. Solar panels of the ISS are seen around the fra me edges. The ominous wave of approaching brightness at the end of each sequenc e is just the dawn of the sunlit half of Earth, a dawn that occurs every 90 minu tes. Free APOD Lecture in Phoenix: This Wednesday (December 10) at 7 pm","medi a_type":"video","service_version":"v1","title":"Flying Over the Earth at Night", "url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FG0fTKAqZ5g?rel=0"}
