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Credit & Copyright: Ralf Rohner
Explanation:
Northern lights shine in
this night skyview from planet Earth's stratosphere,
captured on January 15.
The single, 5 second exposure was made with a
hand-held camera on board an
aircraft above Winnipeg, Canada.
During the exposure, terrestrial lights below leave colorful trails along
the direction of motion of the speeding aircraft.
Above the more distant horizon,
energetic
particles accelerated
along Earth's magnetic field at the
planet's polar
regions
excite atomic oxygen to create the shimmering
display of Aurora Borealis.
The aurora's characteristic greenish hue is generated at altitudes
of 100-300 kilometers and red at even higher altitudes and
lower atmospheric densities.
The luminous glow of faint stars along the plane of our Milky Way galaxy
arcs through the night,
while the Andromeda galaxy extends this northern skyview to
extragalactic space.
A diffuse hint of Andromeda,
the closest large spiral to the Milky Way, can just be seen
to the upper left.
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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 borealis
Publications with words: aurora borealis
See also: