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Credit & Copyright: Bjørnar
G. Hansen,
Explanation:
Northern Lights,
or aurora borealis, haunted
skies
over the island of Kvaløya, near Tromsø Norway on
December 13.
This 30 second long exposure records their shimmering
glow gently lighting the wintery coastal scene.
A study in contrasts, it also captures the sudden flash of
a fireball meteor from
December's excellent
Geminid meteor shower.
Streaking past familiar stars in the handle of the
Big Dipper, the trail points back
toward the constellation Gemini, off the top of the view.
Both aurora and meteors occur in Earth's upper atmosphere at altitudes
of 100 kilometers or so, but
aurora are
caused by energetic charged particles from the
magnetosphere,
while meteors are trails of cosmic dust.
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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: meteor shower - meteor - aurora
Publications with words: meteor shower - meteor - aurora
See also:
- APOD: 2024 December 10 Á The Great Meteor Storm of 1833
- APOD: 2024 December 8 Á Aurora around Saturns North Pole
- APOD: 2024 November 27 Á The Meteor and the Comet
- APOD: 2024 October 16 Á Colorful Aurora over New Zealand
- APOD: 2024 October 13 Á Aurora Timelapse Over Italian Alps
- Northern Lights, West Virginia
- Aurora Australis and the International Space Station