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Credit & Copyright: Christian MÝlhauser;
Music: Elemental by Pulse Faction; Path of Stars by Jonathan Geer
Explanation:
Have you ever seen an aurora?
Auroras are occurring again with increasing frequency.
With the Sun being
unusually
dormant over the past four years, the amount of Sun-induced auroras has been
unusually low.
More recently, however,
our Sun has become increasingly active and
exhibiting
a greater abundance of
sunspots,
flares, and
coronal mass ejections.
Solar activity
like this
typically expels charged particles into the Solar System, some of which may trigger
Earthly auroras.
Two weeks ago, beyond trees and before stars, a solar storm precipitated the
above timelapse displays
of picturesque auroras above Ravnastua, Skoganvarre and
Lakselv,
Norway.
Curtains of auroral light, typically green,
flow,
shimmer and
dance as
energetic particles fall toward the Earth and
excite
air molecules high up in the Earth's atmosphere.
With solar maximum still in the future, there may be
even better opportunities to see spectacular
auroras personally over the next few
years.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: aurora - Norway - night sky - solar activity
Publications with words: aurora - Norway - night sky - solar activity
See also:
- APOD: 2024 June 26 Á Timelapse: Aurora, SAR, and the Milky Way
- Prominences and Filaments on the Active Sun
- APOD: 2024 June 12 Á Aurora over Karkonosze Mountains
- APOD: 2024 May 20 Á Aurora Dome Sky
- Aurora Banks Peninsula
- APOD: 2024 January 14 Á Dragon Aurora over Iceland
- APOD: 2024 January 3 Á A SAR Arc from New Zealand