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Credit & Copyright: Kwon, O Chul
(TWAN)
Explanation:
Intense
auroral
activity flooded the night with
shimmering colors
on February 24, captured here from a lodge
near the city of Yellowknife in northern Canada.
The stunning sequence (left to right) of three all-sky exposures,
taken at 30 second intervals,
shows rapid changes in
dancing curtains of northern lights
against a starry background.
What makes the northern lights dance?
Measurements by NASA's fleet of
THEMIS
spacecraft indicate that these
explosions of auroral activity
are driven by sudden releases of energy in the
Earth's
magnetosphere called magnetic reconnection events.
The reconnection events release energy when
magnetic field lines snap like rubber bands,
driving charged particles
into the upper atmosphere.
Stretching
into space, these reconnection events
occur in the magnetosphere on the Earth's night side
at a distance about 1/3 of the way to the Moon.
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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 - night sky - Themis - magnetic field
Publications with words: aurora - night sky - Themis - magnetic field
See also:
- APOD: 2025 January 7 Á A New Years Aurora and SAR Arc
- APOD: 2024 December 8 Á Aurora around Saturns North Pole
- 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
- APOD: 2024 September 11 Á A Night Sky over the Tatra Mountains