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Yes: the October 6, 2026 NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a complete northern auroral oval, captured in ultraviolet by the Ultraviolet Imager (UVI) aboard the SMILE spacecraft. The ring ripples as Earth’s magnetosphere is disturbed by the solar wind; the points of light beside it are distant stars that appear to drift because the spacecraft’s camera view changes as it orbits.
What the SMILE video actually shows
NASA’s October 6, 2026 Astronomy Picture of the Day features a time-lapse of the northern auroral oval, the broad ring of auroral activity surrounding a magnetic pole. It is not a natural-color view: SMILE’s UVI recorded ultraviolet light, which makes auroral emissions visible across the oval, including on the sunlit side of Earth.
The sequence is a short presentation of a longer observation, not a one-minute event. ESA identifies the footage as covering 00:00–00:58 UT on July 24, 2026, during SMILE’s in-space commissioning, about two weeks after UVI was switched on. NASA describes the underlying observation as covering about an hour. The ring’s uneven, rippling appearance marks changing auroral activity, rather than a fixed outline.
Why a complete oval is hard to see from the ground
An observer on Earth sees only the part of the auroral ring that is above the local horizon and within view. The oval encircles a magnetic pole, so its full extent is too large to appear as one circle from a ground-based viewpoint. Ordinary visible-light cameras also cannot capture aurora on the dayside in the same way they capture the night-side display.
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UVI uses ultraviolet wavelengths because auroras emit strongly in UV. ESA explains that the instrument can separate the faint ultraviolet dayglow of Earth’s upper atmosphere from auroral emission, allowing it to image activity around the complete ring, including the sunlit portion. That is why this view differs from a conventional aurora photograph.
What makes the ring ripple
ESA identifies the changing feature in the July 24 footage as a substorm: a brief disturbance in Earth’s magnetosphere. The solar wind—a stream of charged particles from the Sun—interacts with the magnetic environment around Earth. During a substorm, solar-wind particles compress magnetic field lines and energetic particles are directed toward the polar regions, where they produce auroral light.
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The oval is therefore a useful visual indicator of activity in a system that cannot be understood from images alone. Its shape changes as the magnetosphere responds to solar-wind conditions.
Why the points of light seem to move
The small points beside Earth are distant stars, not fast-moving objects in the foreground. They appear to shift across the frame because SMILE’s viewing angle changes as the spacecraft travels in orbit. The motion belongs to the camera’s changing perspective, not to the stars racing around Earth.
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What SMILE is designed to measure
SMILE stands for Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer. It is a joint European Space Agency and Chinese Academy of Sciences mission intended to study how the solar wind affects Earth’s magnetosphere and how that response connects to auroras. Its four science instruments combine remote imaging with measurements made near the spacecraft:
| Instrument | What it does | Measurement type |
|---|---|---|
| Soft X-ray Imager (SXI) | Images soft X-rays from interactions around Earth’s magnetosphere | Remote sensing |
| Ultraviolet Imager (UVI) | Images auroral emission in ultraviolet light | Remote sensing |
| Magnetometer (MAG) | Measures magnetic fields near the spacecraft | In situ |
| Light Ion Analyser (LIA) | Measures ions and plasma near the spacecraft | In situ |
Images from SXI and UVI provide large-scale context; MAG and LIA record local magnetic-field and particle conditions. Together, those observations are intended to help scientists relate solar-wind and magnetosheath conditions to changes in the magnetosphere and the aurora.
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How long UVI can observe—and what the clip does not show
The approximately 58-second displayed sequence should not be confused with UVI’s observing capacity. ESA says UVI can observe aurora continuously for up to 45 hours at a time, and can take as many as one image every 60 seconds. ESA gives image resolution as 30–90 km depending on orbit. Those are instrument capabilities, not measurements of the duration or resolution of this particular APOD clip.
SMILE’s commissioning status in September 2026
ESA reported that SMILE reached its target science orbit on June 20, 2026, and was cleared to begin science operations on September 23. In its September 30 update, ESA said SXI had taken first images but still detected excess stray light when pointed toward Earth. ESA expected onboard setting and software changes to reduce the unwanted light to a minimum in mid-October, potentially allowing a first useful image of the magnetopause or northern polar cusp. That was an expectation reported on September 30, not confirmation that such an image was subsequently obtained.
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The July auroral footage was recorded during commissioning, before the September science-operations clearance. The fact that this UV sequence shows the oval does not mean that every instrument or observation mode had already reached its intended science performance.
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