Milky Way vs Airglow Australis
Explanation:
Captured last week
after sunset on a Chilean autumn night,
an exceptional airglow floods this allsky view
from Las Campanas Observatory.
The airglow was so intense it diminished parts of the Milky Way
as it arced horizon to horizon above the high Atacama desert.
Originating at an altitude similar to aurorae, the luminous airglow is
due
to chemiluminescence, the
production of light through chemical excitation.
Commonly recorded in color by sensitive
digital cameras, the airglow emission here is fiery in appearance.
It is predominately
from atmospheric
oxygen atoms at extremely low densities and has often been present
during southern hemisphere nights over the last few years.
Like the
Milky Way,
on that dark night the strong airglow was very visible
to the eye, but seen without color.
Jupiter is brightest celestial beacon though,
standing opposite the Sun and near the central bulge of the Milky Way
rising above the eastern (top) horizon.
The Large and Small
Magellanic clouds both shine through the airglow
to the lower left of the galactic plane, toward the southern horizon.
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.
