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Credit & Copyright: James Boardman-Woodend;
Annotation: Judy Schmidt
Explanation:
What's going on behind that mountain?
Quite a bit.
First of all, the mountain itself, named
Kirkjufell,
is quite old and located in western Iceland near the town of
Grundarfjöröur.
In front of the
steeply-sloped structure lies a
fjord that had just
begun to freeze when the above image was taken -- in mid-December of 2012.
Although quite faint to the
unaided eye,
the beautiful
colors of
background aurorae
became quite apparent on the 25-second exposure.
What makes this image of particular note, though,
is that it also captures streaks from the
Geminids meteor shower --
meteors that might not have been evident were the aurora much brighter.
Far in the distance, on the left, is the
band of our Milky Way Galaxy, while
stars from our local part of the
Milky Way
appear spread across the background.
Tonight the
Geminids
meteor
shower
peaks again and may well provide
sky
enthusiasts with their own memorable visual experiences.
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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: meteors
Publications with words: meteors
See also: