NASA

Aurora, North Pacific

The aurora borealis from orbit at solar maximum: oxygen glowing green and red at two heights over open ocean.

Aurora over the North Pacific
Aurora over the North Pacific
Aurora over the North Pacific shown in a limewash reading corner beside an armchair and a floor lamp - scale render at 45 × 30 cm
Aurora over the North Pacific shown in a graphite plaster wall at night, lit by a console lamp - scale render at 45 × 30 cm
Aurora over the North Pacific shown in a beamed room with a greige plaster wall above a long oak sideboard - scale render at 45 × 30 cm
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Material
Size (cm)
Frame
Specification
45 × 30 cm
3 mm Aluminium
No Frame
Mount Kit Included
Price
$140

Free shipping - Arrives in 5-7 days

About this work
Aurora over the North Pacific

On 15 November 2024, a month after NASA and NOAA announced the Sun had reached the maximum of Solar Cycle 25, the space station crossed the North Pacific at 433 kilometres and photographed an aurora borealis. The green is atomic oxygen at 558 nanometres, emitted between about 100 and 300 kilometres up.

A brownish red band sits above the green at upper right. That red is the same oxygen atom at 630 nanometres. It glows higher, from 300 to 500 kilometres, so at 433 kilometres the station flies above the whole green layer and inside the red one. The pale blue line below the aurora is airglow, an ever present shell of light at about 100 kilometres. The camera was set to ISO 51200. The grain that setting leaves runs through the whole frame, even the brightest green.

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Materials

Metal
The edge of a Madtag aluminium print, a thin bright line, floating clear of a dark wall.

Nothing between you and the picture.

  • The surface for work that wants light.
  • Colour at full strength; blacks hold their depth.
  • Sealed under gloss: no frame, no glazing.
  • 3 mm aluminium composite, floats clear of the wall.
Arrives flat, hanging system included
Paper
A Madtag print on a sheet of matte fine art paper, curling at one corner to show its thickness.

Hahnemühle, not poster paper.

  • When you want the best.
  • Unframed, it is Hahnemühle: photographs on Photo Rag 308, 100% cotton.
  • Painterly work on German Etching 310, mould-made and textured.
  • Over 300 gsm, printed as a pigment giclée.
Arrives rolled in a Madtag tube
Framed
The corner of a Madtag print in a black wood frame, the sheet flush against the moulding behind acrylic, no mount board.

For the wall you want finished.

  • Framed and finished; no trip to a framer.
  • A different print: 200 gsm coated silk, made as one piece.
  • Black, white or natural wood moulding.
  • Acrylic glazing, no mount board: the sheet fills the frame.
Arrives flat in its frame
Canvas
A Madtag print on stretched canvas with a solid black wrapped edge.

Nothing lost around the corner.

  • Occupies the room rather than hanging flat.
  • Stretched over a 40 mm deep FSC wood frame.
  • No glazing; the weave itself takes the light.
  • The picture stops at the face; edges solid black, always.
Arrives stretched and ready to hang
See all four in the room