In the photo from the space station, the comet is captured just above Earth’s horizon, which is illuminated by a bright light — also known as airglow — that occurs in the planet’s upper atmosphere when atoms and molecules emit light after being excited by sunlight.

One of the many advantages of being in space is having a front-row seat to the most anticipated cosmic events.

NASA astronaut Don Pettit has snapped a striking shot of the super-bright comet racing past our planet for the first time in 160,000 years, as it lit up the night skies across the globe.

This beautiful photo shows comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) flying near Earth, as seen by astronaut Don Pettit on the International Space Station on 11 January. It was first spotted by NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System last year,