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Milky Way with Airglow Australis
ApoD shared this fabulous astronomy picture of the day on 2017 February 3 (see>> https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170203.html).
What is an airglow?
Well, airglow (also called nightglow) is a faint emission of light by a planetary atmosphere. In the case of Earth's atmosphere, this optical phenomenon causes the night sky never to be completely dark, even after the effects of starlight and diffused sunlight from the far side are removed.
Airglow is caused by various processes in the upper atmosphere, such as the recombination of atoms which were photoionized by the sun during the day, luminescence caused by cosmic rays striking the upper atmosphere, and chemiluminescence caused mainly by oxygen and nitrogen reacting with hydroxyl ions at heights of a few hundred kilometres. It is not noticeable during the daytime because of the scattered light from the sun.
Captured last April after sunset on a Chilean autumn night an exceptionally intense airglow flooded this scene. The panoramic skyscape is also filled with stars, clusters, and nebulae along the southern Milky Way including the Large and Small Magellanic clouds.
Originating at an altitude similar to aurorae, the luminous airglow is due to chemiluminescence, the production of light through chemical excitation. Commonly recorded with a greenish tinge by sensitive digital cameras, both red and green airglow emission here is predominately from atmospheric oxygen atoms at extremely low densities and has often been present in southern hemisphere nights during the last few years.
Like the Milky Way on that dark night the strong airglow was visible to the eye, but seen without color. Mars, Saturn, and bright star Antares in Scorpius form the celestial triangle anchoring the scene on the left. The road leads toward the 2,600 meter high mountain Cerro Paranal and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescopes.
► Image Credit & Copyright: Yuri Beletsky (Carnegie Las Campanas Observatory, TWAN)
Further reading and references
► Airglow Formation>> http://www.atoptics.co.uk/highsky/airglow2.htm
► Airglow and Earth's Magnetic Field>>
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2016/airglow-and-earths-magnetic-field
► Airglow>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airglow
#Astrophotography, #Airglow, #NaturalPhenomena, #Earth, MilkyWay
ApoD shared this fabulous astronomy picture of the day on 2017 February 3 (see>> https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170203.html).
What is an airglow?
Well, airglow (also called nightglow) is a faint emission of light by a planetary atmosphere. In the case of Earth's atmosphere, this optical phenomenon causes the night sky never to be completely dark, even after the effects of starlight and diffused sunlight from the far side are removed.
Airglow is caused by various processes in the upper atmosphere, such as the recombination of atoms which were photoionized by the sun during the day, luminescence caused by cosmic rays striking the upper atmosphere, and chemiluminescence caused mainly by oxygen and nitrogen reacting with hydroxyl ions at heights of a few hundred kilometres. It is not noticeable during the daytime because of the scattered light from the sun.
Captured last April after sunset on a Chilean autumn night an exceptionally intense airglow flooded this scene. The panoramic skyscape is also filled with stars, clusters, and nebulae along the southern Milky Way including the Large and Small Magellanic clouds.
Originating at an altitude similar to aurorae, the luminous airglow is due to chemiluminescence, the production of light through chemical excitation. Commonly recorded with a greenish tinge by sensitive digital cameras, both red and green airglow emission here is predominately from atmospheric oxygen atoms at extremely low densities and has often been present in southern hemisphere nights during the last few years.
Like the Milky Way on that dark night the strong airglow was visible to the eye, but seen without color. Mars, Saturn, and bright star Antares in Scorpius form the celestial triangle anchoring the scene on the left. The road leads toward the 2,600 meter high mountain Cerro Paranal and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescopes.
► Image Credit & Copyright: Yuri Beletsky (Carnegie Las Campanas Observatory, TWAN)
Further reading and references
► Airglow Formation>> http://www.atoptics.co.uk/highsky/airglow2.htm
► Airglow and Earth's Magnetic Field>>
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2016/airglow-and-earths-magnetic-field
► Airglow>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airglow
#Astrophotography, #Airglow, #NaturalPhenomena, #Earth, MilkyWay
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Mars and Orion Over Monument Valley
► Credit & Copyright: Wally Pacholka (www.astropics.com)
APoD shared this wonderful and suggestive photo on Christmas Day, 2007.
Sharing the night sky seen around the world, this view from Monument Valley, USA includes a picturesque foreground of famous buttes.
Buttes are composed of hard rock left behind after water eroded away the surrounding soft rock.
The two buttes on the image left are known as the Mittens, while Merrick Butte is on the right.
Planet Mars is at the left of the skyscape, a glowing beacon of orange that is the brightest object in the frame. To the right of Mars lies the constellation of Orion.
Betelgeuse is the reddish star near the center and the Belt of Orion and the Orion Nebula are farther right.
Finally, the bright blue star Rigel appears above Merrick Butte in this stunning view of the world at night.
► Source>> http://go.nasa.gov/2hZk1HO
Further reading
► Monument Valley>> http://bit.ly/2i7sG8V
► Butte>> http://bit.ly/2hZujYb
► The Mittens and Merrick Butte>> http://bit.ly/2ivv2BL
► Betelgeuse>> http://go.nasa.gov/2iwwOOT
► Rigel>> http://bit.ly/2hH5ehO
#Atrophotography, #Earth, #NaturalPhenomena, #APoD, #Buttes
► Credit & Copyright: Wally Pacholka (www.astropics.com)
APoD shared this wonderful and suggestive photo on Christmas Day, 2007.
Sharing the night sky seen around the world, this view from Monument Valley, USA includes a picturesque foreground of famous buttes.
Buttes are composed of hard rock left behind after water eroded away the surrounding soft rock.
The two buttes on the image left are known as the Mittens, while Merrick Butte is on the right.
Planet Mars is at the left of the skyscape, a glowing beacon of orange that is the brightest object in the frame. To the right of Mars lies the constellation of Orion.
Betelgeuse is the reddish star near the center and the Belt of Orion and the Orion Nebula are farther right.
Finally, the bright blue star Rigel appears above Merrick Butte in this stunning view of the world at night.
► Source>> http://go.nasa.gov/2hZk1HO
Further reading
► Monument Valley>> http://bit.ly/2i7sG8V
► Butte>> http://bit.ly/2hZujYb
► The Mittens and Merrick Butte>> http://bit.ly/2ivv2BL
► Betelgeuse>> http://go.nasa.gov/2iwwOOT
► Rigel>> http://bit.ly/2hH5ehO
#Atrophotography, #Earth, #NaturalPhenomena, #APoD, #Buttes
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Yosemite Winter Night
In this evocative night skyscape a starry band of the Milky Way climbs over Yosemite Valley, Sierra Nevada Range, planet Earth.
Jupiter is the brightest celestial beacon on the wintry scene, though. Standing nearly opposite the Sun in the constellation Taurus, the wandering planet joins yellowish Aldebaran and the Hyades star cluster.
Below, Orion always comes up sideways over a fence of mountains. And from there the twin stars of Gemini rise just across the Milky Way.
As this peaceful winter night began, they followed Auriga the charioteer, its alpha star Capella near the top of the frame.
► Image Credit & Copyright: Wally Pacholka (AstroPics.com, TWAN)
► Source>> http://go.nasa.gov/2hjhpDE
Further reading and reference
► Auriga the charioteer>> http://bit.ly/2hnu2za
► The Hyades Star Cluster>> http://bit.ly/2hCZHbU
#Astrophotography, #Earth, #Astronomy, #Stars, #MilkyWay
In this evocative night skyscape a starry band of the Milky Way climbs over Yosemite Valley, Sierra Nevada Range, planet Earth.
Jupiter is the brightest celestial beacon on the wintry scene, though. Standing nearly opposite the Sun in the constellation Taurus, the wandering planet joins yellowish Aldebaran and the Hyades star cluster.
Below, Orion always comes up sideways over a fence of mountains. And from there the twin stars of Gemini rise just across the Milky Way.
As this peaceful winter night began, they followed Auriga the charioteer, its alpha star Capella near the top of the frame.
► Image Credit & Copyright: Wally Pacholka (AstroPics.com, TWAN)
► Source>> http://go.nasa.gov/2hjhpDE
Further reading and reference
► Auriga the charioteer>> http://bit.ly/2hnu2za
► The Hyades Star Cluster>> http://bit.ly/2hCZHbU
#Astrophotography, #Earth, #Astronomy, #Stars, #MilkyWay
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Spectacular Eagle Aurora over Norway
This wonderful aurora is part of arctic photographs from photographer Bjørn Jørgensen.
Shared by APoD on October 23, 2016, it was taken in Jan. 22, 2012, when a large coronal mass ejection (CME) occurred on our Sun, just five days before this shot, throwing a cloud of fast moving electrons, protons, and ions toward the Earth.
A coronal mass ejection is an unusually large release of plasma and magnetic field from the solar corona. They often follow solar flares and are normally present during a solar prominence eruption. The plasma is released into the solar wind, and can be observed in coronagraph imagery.
Coronal mass ejections are often associated with other forms of solar activity, but a broadly accepted theoretical understanding of these relationships has not been established. CMEs most often originate from active regions on the Sun's surface, such as groupings of sunspots associated with frequent flares. Near solar maxima, the Sun produces about three CMEs every day, whereas near solar minima, there is about one CME every five days.
Regarding the CME, here pointed out, although most of this cloud passed above the Earth, some of it impacted our Earth's magnetosphere and resulted in spectacular auroras being seen at high northern latitudes.
Featured below is a particularly photogenic auroral corona captured above Grotfjord, Norway. To some, this shimmering green glow of recombining atmospheric oxygen might appear as a large eagle, but feel free to share what it looks like to you.
► Source>> https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap161023.html
► Image Credit & Copyright: Bjørn Jørgensen
► Visit "Arctic Photo", Bjørn Jørgensen's website>> http://www.arcticphoto.no/index.html
Further reading
► Coronal mass ejection>> http://bit.ly/2blcm17
► Magnetosphere>> http://bit.ly/2fBCfdo
► Auroral corona>> http://bit.ly/2gvjfBS
► Solar maximum>>http://go.nasa.gov/2g76g8R
► Solar minimum>> http://bit.ly/2fBE21Z
#Astrophotography, #Auroras , #APoD , #CoronalMassEjection , #Magnetosphere , #AuroralCorona
This wonderful aurora is part of arctic photographs from photographer Bjørn Jørgensen.
Shared by APoD on October 23, 2016, it was taken in Jan. 22, 2012, when a large coronal mass ejection (CME) occurred on our Sun, just five days before this shot, throwing a cloud of fast moving electrons, protons, and ions toward the Earth.
A coronal mass ejection is an unusually large release of plasma and magnetic field from the solar corona. They often follow solar flares and are normally present during a solar prominence eruption. The plasma is released into the solar wind, and can be observed in coronagraph imagery.
Coronal mass ejections are often associated with other forms of solar activity, but a broadly accepted theoretical understanding of these relationships has not been established. CMEs most often originate from active regions on the Sun's surface, such as groupings of sunspots associated with frequent flares. Near solar maxima, the Sun produces about three CMEs every day, whereas near solar minima, there is about one CME every five days.
Regarding the CME, here pointed out, although most of this cloud passed above the Earth, some of it impacted our Earth's magnetosphere and resulted in spectacular auroras being seen at high northern latitudes.
Featured below is a particularly photogenic auroral corona captured above Grotfjord, Norway. To some, this shimmering green glow of recombining atmospheric oxygen might appear as a large eagle, but feel free to share what it looks like to you.
► Source>> https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap161023.html
► Image Credit & Copyright: Bjørn Jørgensen
► Visit "Arctic Photo", Bjørn Jørgensen's website>> http://www.arcticphoto.no/index.html
Further reading
► Coronal mass ejection>> http://bit.ly/2blcm17
► Magnetosphere>> http://bit.ly/2fBCfdo
► Auroral corona>> http://bit.ly/2gvjfBS
► Solar maximum>>http://go.nasa.gov/2g76g8R
► Solar minimum>> http://bit.ly/2fBE21Z
#Astrophotography, #Auroras , #APoD , #CoronalMassEjection , #Magnetosphere , #AuroralCorona
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Equinox Sunset
Often inspiring, or offering a moment for contemplation, a sunset is probably the most commonly photographed celestial event. But this uncommonly beautiful sunset picture was taken on a special day, the Equinox on September 22, 2009.
Marking the astronomical change of seasons, on that day Earth dwellers experienced nearly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness (an equal night).
Reflected in the calm waters of Lake Balaton with a motionless sailboat in silhouette, the Sun is setting due west and heading south across the celestial equator.
In the background lies the Benedictine Archabbey of Tihany, Hungary.
► Source>> http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090924.html
► Author: Tamas Ladanyi (TWAN)
Further reading
► Seasons of the Year>> http://www.phy6.org/stargaze/Sseason.htm
► Equinoxes>> http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/equinoxes.php
#Astrophootography, #Equinox, #Sunset, #Photographs, #LakeBalaton
Often inspiring, or offering a moment for contemplation, a sunset is probably the most commonly photographed celestial event. But this uncommonly beautiful sunset picture was taken on a special day, the Equinox on September 22, 2009.
Marking the astronomical change of seasons, on that day Earth dwellers experienced nearly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness (an equal night).
Reflected in the calm waters of Lake Balaton with a motionless sailboat in silhouette, the Sun is setting due west and heading south across the celestial equator.
In the background lies the Benedictine Archabbey of Tihany, Hungary.
► Source>> http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090924.html
► Author: Tamas Ladanyi (TWAN)
Further reading
► Seasons of the Year>> http://www.phy6.org/stargaze/Sseason.htm
► Equinoxes>> http://aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/docs/equinoxes.php
#Astrophootography, #Equinox, #Sunset, #Photographs, #LakeBalaton
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Anything But Black
ESO’s various observatory sites in Chile — Paranal, La Silla, Chajnantor — boast enviably low levels of light pollution. However, the skies overhead are rarely pitch-black!
As shown in this image of Paranal Observatory, the skies regularly display a myriad of colours and astronomical sights, from the plane of the Milky Way shining brightly overhead to the orange-hued speck of Mars (left), the starry constellations of Scorpius and Orion, and the magenta splash of the Carina Nebula (upper middle).
Despite the remote location there are also occasional signs of human activity, for example the sequence of lamps seen in the centre of the frame. These faint lights illuminate the route from the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) where this image was taken.
Due to the highly sensitive camera this photograph also showcases a mysterious phenomenon called airglow. The night sky is ablaze with deep red and eerie green hues, caused by the faint glow of Earth’s atmosphere. Because of airglow, no observatory site on Earth could ever be absolutely, completely dark — although ESO’s do come pretty close.
This image was taken by talented astronomer and photographer Yuri Beletsky, a member of the 2016 ESO Fulldome Expedition team. This team visited Chile to gather spectacular images for use in the ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre.
► Credit: Y. Beletsky (LCO)/ESO
► Source>> http://www.eso.org/public/unitedkingdom/images/potw1638a/
Further reading
► Airglow>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airglow
#Astrophotography, #ESO, #MilkyWay, #constellationScorpius, #constellationOrion, #airglow, #VLT, #VISTA, #Mars, #CarinaNebula
ESO’s various observatory sites in Chile — Paranal, La Silla, Chajnantor — boast enviably low levels of light pollution. However, the skies overhead are rarely pitch-black!
As shown in this image of Paranal Observatory, the skies regularly display a myriad of colours and astronomical sights, from the plane of the Milky Way shining brightly overhead to the orange-hued speck of Mars (left), the starry constellations of Scorpius and Orion, and the magenta splash of the Carina Nebula (upper middle).
Despite the remote location there are also occasional signs of human activity, for example the sequence of lamps seen in the centre of the frame. These faint lights illuminate the route from the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) where this image was taken.
Due to the highly sensitive camera this photograph also showcases a mysterious phenomenon called airglow. The night sky is ablaze with deep red and eerie green hues, caused by the faint glow of Earth’s atmosphere. Because of airglow, no observatory site on Earth could ever be absolutely, completely dark — although ESO’s do come pretty close.
This image was taken by talented astronomer and photographer Yuri Beletsky, a member of the 2016 ESO Fulldome Expedition team. This team visited Chile to gather spectacular images for use in the ESO Supernova Planetarium & Visitor Centre.
► Credit: Y. Beletsky (LCO)/ESO
► Source>> http://www.eso.org/public/unitedkingdom/images/potw1638a/
Further reading
► Airglow>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airglow
#Astrophotography, #ESO, #MilkyWay, #constellationScorpius, #constellationOrion, #airglow, #VLT, #VISTA, #Mars, #CarinaNebula
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Southern Craters and Galaxies
The Henbury craters in the Northern Territory, Australia, planet Earth, are the scars of an impact over 4,000 years old.
When an ancient meteorite fragmented into dozens of pieces, the largest made the 180 meter diameter crater whose weathered walls and floor are lit in the foreground of this southern hemisphere nightscape.
The vertical panoramic view follows our magnificent Milky Way galaxy stretching above horizon, its rich central starfields cut by obscuring dust clouds. A glance along the galactic plane also reveals Alpha and Beta Centauri and the stars of the Southern Cross.
Captured in the region's spectacular, dark skies, the Small Magellanic Cloud, satellite of the Milky Way, is the bright galaxy to the left.
Not the lights of a nearby town, the visible glow on the horizon below it is the Large Magellanic Cloud rising.
► Source>> http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap151226.html
Further reading
► http://www.passc.net/EarthImpactDatabase/Australia.html
► http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2016/01/07/babak_tafreshi_photo_of_the_milky_way.html
#Astrophotography, #MilkyWay, #LargeMagellanicCloud, #SouthernCross, #SmallMagellanicCloud, #Henburycraters
The Henbury craters in the Northern Territory, Australia, planet Earth, are the scars of an impact over 4,000 years old.
When an ancient meteorite fragmented into dozens of pieces, the largest made the 180 meter diameter crater whose weathered walls and floor are lit in the foreground of this southern hemisphere nightscape.
The vertical panoramic view follows our magnificent Milky Way galaxy stretching above horizon, its rich central starfields cut by obscuring dust clouds. A glance along the galactic plane also reveals Alpha and Beta Centauri and the stars of the Southern Cross.
Captured in the region's spectacular, dark skies, the Small Magellanic Cloud, satellite of the Milky Way, is the bright galaxy to the left.
Not the lights of a nearby town, the visible glow on the horizon below it is the Large Magellanic Cloud rising.
► Source>> http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap151226.html
Further reading
► http://www.passc.net/EarthImpactDatabase/Australia.html
► http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2016/01/07/babak_tafreshi_photo_of_the_milky_way.html
#Astrophotography, #MilkyWay, #LargeMagellanicCloud, #SouthernCross, #SmallMagellanicCloud, #Henburycraters
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Aurora over Icelandic Fault
Admire the beauty but fear the beast.
The beauty is the aurora overhead, here taking the form of great green spiral, seen between picturesque clouds with the bright Moon to the side and stars in the background. The beast is the wave of charged particles that creates the aurora but might, one day, impair civilization.
Exactly on September 1–2, 1859, following notable auroras seen all across the globe, a pulse of charged particles from a coronal mass ejection (CME) associated with a solar flare impacted Earth's magnetosphere so forcefully that they created the Carrington Event. The Solar storm of 1859 was a powerful geomagnetic solar storm during solar cycle 10 (1855–1867). The associated "white light flare" in the solar photosphere was observed and recorded by English astronomers Richard C. Carrington and Richard Hodgson.
A relatively direct path between the Sun and the Earth might have been cleared by a preceding CME. What is sure is that the Carrington Event compressed the Earth's magnetic field so violently that currents were created in telegraph wires so great that many wires sparked and gave telegraph operators shocks.
Were a Carrington-class event to impact the Earth today, speculation holds that damage might occur to global power grids and electronics on a scale never yet experienced.
The featured aurora was imaged in late August 2016 over Thingvallavatn Lake in Iceland, a lake that partly fills a fault that divides Earth's large Eurasian and North American tectonic plates.
► Image and explanation via APOD>> http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160830.html
#Astrophotography, #SolarStorm, #Aurora, #CarringtonEvent
Admire the beauty but fear the beast.
The beauty is the aurora overhead, here taking the form of great green spiral, seen between picturesque clouds with the bright Moon to the side and stars in the background. The beast is the wave of charged particles that creates the aurora but might, one day, impair civilization.
Exactly on September 1–2, 1859, following notable auroras seen all across the globe, a pulse of charged particles from a coronal mass ejection (CME) associated with a solar flare impacted Earth's magnetosphere so forcefully that they created the Carrington Event. The Solar storm of 1859 was a powerful geomagnetic solar storm during solar cycle 10 (1855–1867). The associated "white light flare" in the solar photosphere was observed and recorded by English astronomers Richard C. Carrington and Richard Hodgson.
A relatively direct path between the Sun and the Earth might have been cleared by a preceding CME. What is sure is that the Carrington Event compressed the Earth's magnetic field so violently that currents were created in telegraph wires so great that many wires sparked and gave telegraph operators shocks.
Were a Carrington-class event to impact the Earth today, speculation holds that damage might occur to global power grids and electronics on a scale never yet experienced.
The featured aurora was imaged in late August 2016 over Thingvallavatn Lake in Iceland, a lake that partly fills a fault that divides Earth's large Eurasian and North American tectonic plates.
► Image and explanation via APOD>> http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160830.html
#Astrophotography, #SolarStorm, #Aurora, #CarringtonEvent
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Aurora over Icelandic Glacier
Several key conditions came together to create this award-winning shot. These included a dark night, few clouds, an epic auroral display, and a body of water that was both calm enough and unfrozen enough to show reflected stars.
The featured skyscape of activity and serenity appeared over Iceland's Vatnajökull Glacier a year ago January (image below was published 2015 March 10 ), with the Jökulsárlón Iceberg Lagoon captured in the foreground.
Aurora filled skies continue to be common near Earth's poles as our Sun, near Solar Maximum, continues to expel energetic clouds of plasma into the Solar System.
► Image and explanation from APoD>>
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150310.html
Further reading
► Solar Mini-Max>>
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/10jun_solarminimax/
► Plasma>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_%28physics%29
#Astrophotography, #Aurora, #VatnajökullGlacier, #JökulsárlónIcebergLagoon,
Several key conditions came together to create this award-winning shot. These included a dark night, few clouds, an epic auroral display, and a body of water that was both calm enough and unfrozen enough to show reflected stars.
The featured skyscape of activity and serenity appeared over Iceland's Vatnajökull Glacier a year ago January (image below was published 2015 March 10 ), with the Jökulsárlón Iceberg Lagoon captured in the foreground.
Aurora filled skies continue to be common near Earth's poles as our Sun, near Solar Maximum, continues to expel energetic clouds of plasma into the Solar System.
► Image and explanation from APoD>>
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150310.html
Further reading
► Solar Mini-Max>>
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/10jun_solarminimax/
► Plasma>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_%28physics%29
#Astrophotography, #Aurora, #VatnajökullGlacier, #JökulsárlónIcebergLagoon,
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Pink Aurora Over Crater Lake
Why is this aurora strikingly pink?
When photographing picturesque Crater Lake in Oregon, USA on 2012 June 25, the background sky lit up with auroras of unusual colors. Although much is known about the physical mechanisms that create auroras, accurately predicting the occurrence and colors of auroras remains a topic of investigation.
Typically, it is known, the lowest auroras appear green. These occur at about 100 kilometers high and involve atmospheric oxygen atoms excited by fast moving plasma from space.
The next highest auroras -- at about 200 kilometers up -- appear red, and are also emitted by resettling atmospheric oxygen. Some of the highest auroras visible -- as high as 500 kilometers up -- appear blue, and are caused by sunlight-scattering nitrogen ions.
When looking from the ground through different layers of distant auroras, their colors can combine to produce unique and spectacular hues, in this case rare pink hues seen below.
► Source>> http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120725.html
► Image Credit & Copyright: Brad Goldpaint (Goldpaint Photography)
Further reading and resources
► Glowing Gases - Aurorae>>
http://www.atoptics.co.uk/highsky/auror3.htm
► NASA SDO - Aurora; What Causes Them?>>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mz2laHjVoQ
► The colors of the aurora>> http://www.nps.gov/akso/nature/science/ak_park_science/PDF/2009Vol8-1/The-Colors-of-the-Aurora.pdf
#astrophotography, #auroras, #colors_of_auroras, #APoD, #sun_activity, #sun_plasma
Why is this aurora strikingly pink?
When photographing picturesque Crater Lake in Oregon, USA on 2012 June 25, the background sky lit up with auroras of unusual colors. Although much is known about the physical mechanisms that create auroras, accurately predicting the occurrence and colors of auroras remains a topic of investigation.
Typically, it is known, the lowest auroras appear green. These occur at about 100 kilometers high and involve atmospheric oxygen atoms excited by fast moving plasma from space.
The next highest auroras -- at about 200 kilometers up -- appear red, and are also emitted by resettling atmospheric oxygen. Some of the highest auroras visible -- as high as 500 kilometers up -- appear blue, and are caused by sunlight-scattering nitrogen ions.
When looking from the ground through different layers of distant auroras, their colors can combine to produce unique and spectacular hues, in this case rare pink hues seen below.
► Source>> http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120725.html
► Image Credit & Copyright: Brad Goldpaint (Goldpaint Photography)
Further reading and resources
► Glowing Gases - Aurorae>>
http://www.atoptics.co.uk/highsky/auror3.htm
► NASA SDO - Aurora; What Causes Them?>>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Mz2laHjVoQ
► The colors of the aurora>> http://www.nps.gov/akso/nature/science/ak_park_science/PDF/2009Vol8-1/The-Colors-of-the-Aurora.pdf
#astrophotography, #auroras, #colors_of_auroras, #APoD, #sun_activity, #sun_plasma
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