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Credit & Copyright: Marco Bastoni
Explanation:
What's that in the sky?
An aurora.
A large coronal hole opened last month, a few days before
this image was taken,
throwing a cloud of fast moving
electrons,
protons, and
ions toward the
Earth.
Some of this cloud impacted our
Earth's magnetosphere
and resulted in spectacular auroras being seen at high
northern latitudes.
Featured here is a particularly photogenic
auroral curtain captured above
TromsÜ
Norway.
To the astrophotographer, this
shimmering green glow of
recombining atmospheric
oxygen
appeared as a large
dragon, but feel free to
share what it
looks
like to you.
Although now past
Solar
Maximum,
our
Sun continues to
show occasional activity creating
impressive auroras on Earth
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
Publications with words: aurora
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 June 26 Á Timelapse: Aurora, SAR, and the Milky Way