Dhaka, Oct. 7 -- A spacecraft has captured a complete ring of auroral activity around Earth's north pole, offering a rare view of the northern lights across both the night and daylight sides of the planet, NASA reports.

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day for Oct 6 has featured footage from the Solar Wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer, or SMILE, showing the full auroral oval in ultraviolet light. The mission is a joint project of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

The oval cannot be seen in its entirety from the ground because it forms a huge ring around the planet's magnetic pole. NASA said the SMILE footage, recorded over about an hour in late July, captures the aurora's changing and turbul...