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Credit & Copyright: BjÜrn JÜrgensen
Explanation:
What's that in the sky?
An aurora.
A large
coronal mass ejection occurred on our
Sun five days before this 2012 image was taken,
throwing a cloud of fast moving electrons, protons, and ions
toward the Earth.
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 here 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.
Although the Sun is near
Solar Minimum, streams of the solar wind continue to
impact
the Earth and create
impressive auroras
visible even last week.
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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 - coronal mass ejection
Publications with words: aurora - coronal mass ejection
See also: