Fact Sheet
Seeing the Sights
The aurora borealis ("northern lights") glows above Quebec in this view from the International Space Station. The circular feature at the bottom of the image is Manicouagan, a crater than formed when an asteroid struck Earth millions of years ago. Astronauts can view the aurorae, meteor showers, eclipses, and other astronomical phemonema from orbit. They also can make out many features on Earth's surface -- although the Great Wall of China is actually quite hard to see from orbit, and impossible from the Moon. [Credit: NASA/Donald Pettit]
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