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Астронет: Астрономическая картинка дня Столбы света над Аляской http://variable-stars.ru/db/msg/1355903/eng |
Credit & Copyright: Allisha Libby
Explanation:
What's happening behind those houses?
Pictured here are not
auroras but nearby
light pillars,
a nearby phenomenon that can appear as a distant one.
In most places on
Earth, a lucky viewer can see a
Sun-pillar, a column of light
appearing to extend up from the
Sun caused by flat fluttering
ice-crystals reflecting sunlight from the
upper atmosphere.
Usually these
ice crystals
evaporate before reaching the ground.
During freezing temperatures, however,
flat fluttering ice crystals may form near the
ground in a form of light snow,
sometimes known as a crystal fog.
These ice crystals may then reflect ground lights
in columns not unlike a
Sun-pillar.
The featured image was taken in
Fort
Wainwright near
Fairbanks in central
Alaska.
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Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.