Happy St. Patrick's Day from space!
To celebrate the annual holiday, NASA's International Space Station twitter account shared this astronaut's-eye view of Ireland as seen from the orbiting lab, which flies at an average altitude of about 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the Earth.
"We hope you're wearing green," NASA tweeted. "This #StPatricksDay, enjoy an astronaut's-eye view of Ireland, taken from aboard the International Space Station."
Related: 5 fun facts about St. Patrick's Day
On board the space station, NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan, a flight engineer for Expedition 62, tweeted another view of the southern end of Ireland that he captured in orbit. "Happy #StPatricksDay! This past fall I captured this clear day over the southern end of the Emerald Isle: Limerick, Cork and Kerry counties," Morgan wrote on Twitter.
Morgan also shared a photo of a small Irish flag floating in one of the windows of the Cupola observatory, a dome-shaped module with seven windows where astronauts can observe Earth, conduct experiments and assist with the arrival and departure of visiting spacecraft.
NASA astronaut Jessica, who is also on board the space station, celebrated St. Patrick's Day by sharing stunning photos of green auroras seen from orbit.
"Even the atmosphere is excited and proudly glowing green for #StPatricksDay," Meir tweeted. "Started experimenting this week with my first aurora borealis (northern lights) shots on @Space_Station ... stay tuned," she added.
While Morgan, Meir and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka (the only three crewmembers currently at the space station) celebrate a unique St. Patrick's Day in orbit, people on Earth are also experiencing an unusual holiday as parades and other festivities have been canceled around the world due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The entire country of Ireland canceled its St. Patrick's Day parades over coronavirus concerns, according to the BBC. As of this morning (March 17), Ireland has reported 223 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, and two deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
In New York City, the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade — the largest in the world — was canceled for the first time in more than 250 years, while other major cities like Boston and Chicago canceled their festivities as well, according to The New York Times.
Editor's note: This article was updated with NASA astronaut Jessica Meir's aurora photography at 12:30 p.m. EDT (1630 GMT).
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Email Hanneke Weitering at hweitering@space.com or follow her @hannekescience. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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