2013 November 18

Aurora and Unusual Clouds Over Iceland
* Image Credit & Copyright: Stéphane Vetter (Nuits sacrées)
http://www.nuitsacrees.fr/

Explanation:
What's happening in the sky? On this cold winter night in Iceland, quite a lot. First, in the foreground, lies the largest glacier in Iceland: Vatnajokull. On the far left, bright green auroras appear to emanate from the glacier as if it was a volcano. Aurora light is reflected by the foreground lake Jökulsárlón. On the far right is a long and unusual lenticular cloud tinged with green light emitted from another aurora well behind it. Just above this lenticular cloud are unusual iridescent lenticular clouds displaying a broad spectral range of colors. Far beyond the lenticular is the setting Moon, while far beyond even the Moon are setting stars. The above image was captured in late March of 2012.

2018 December 9

Aurora Shimmer, Meteor Flash
* Image Credit & Copyright: Bjørnar G. Hansen

Explanation:
Some night skies are serene and passive -- others shimmer and flash. The later, in the form of auroras and meteors, haunted skies over the island of Kvaløya, near Tromsø Norway on 2009 December 13. This 30 second long exposure records a shimmering auroral glow gently lighting the wintery coastal scene. A study in contrasts, the image also captures the sudden flash of a fireball meteor from the excellent Geminid meteor shower of 2009. 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 auroras and meteors occur in Earth's upper atmosphere at altitudes of 100 kilometers or so, but aurora caused by energetic charged particles from the magnetosphere, while meteors are trails of cosmic dust. Nine years after this photograph was taken, toward the end of this week, the yearly 2018 Geminids meteor shower will peak again, although this time their flashes will compete with the din of a half-lit first-quarter moon during the first half of the night.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap181209.html

2018 September 22

Window Seat over Hudson Bay
* Image Credit & Copyright: Ralf Rohner
https://ralf-rohner.pixels.com/

Explanation:
On the August 18 night flight from San Francisco to Zurich, a window seat offered this tantalizing view when curtains of light draped a colorful glow across the sky over Hudson Bay. Constructed by digitally stacking six short exposures made with a hand held camera, the scene records the shimmering aurora borealis or northern lights just as the approaching high altitude sunrise illuminated the northeastern horizon. It also caught the flash of a Perseid meteor streaking beneath the handle stars of the Big Dipper of the north. A few days past the meteor shower's peak, its trail still points across the sky toward Perseus. Beautiful aurorae and shower meteors both occur in Earth's upper atmosphere at altitudes of 100 kilometers or so, far above commercial airline flights. The aurora are caused by energetic charged particles from the magnetosphere, while meteors are trails of comet dust.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180922.html

2011 September 23

September's Aurora
* Image Credit & Copyright: Yuichi Takasaka / TWAN / www.blue-moon.ca
https://twanight.org/profile/yuichi-takasaka/

Explanation:
September's equinox arrived that day at 0905 UT. As the Sun crosses the celestial equator heading south, spring begins in the southern hemisphere and autumn in the north. And though the seasonal connection is still puzzling, both spring and autumn bring an increase in geomagnetic storms. So as northern nights grow longer, the equinox also heralds the arrival of a good season for viewing aurora. Recorded earlier this month, these curtains of September's shimmering green light sprawl across a gorgeous night skyscape. In the foreground lies Hidden Lake Territorial Park near Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. Calm water reflects the aurora, with bright star trails peering through the mesmerizing sky glow. Of course, shining at altitudes of 100 kilometers or so, planet Earth's auroras are visible from space.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110923.html

"Aurora Over Mono Lake: A Rare Dance of Light" by Daniel Zafra

#astrophotography
#photography
#SouthernLights
#aurora
#lake
#NZ

2024 August 16

Meteor Borealis
* Image Credit & Copyright: Jason Dain

Explanation:
A single exposure made with a camera pointed almost due north on August 12 recorded this bright Perseid meteor in the night sky west of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The meteor's incandescent trace is fleeting. It appears to cross the stars of the Big Dipper, famous northern asterism and celestial kitchen utensil, while shimmering curtains of aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, dance in the night. Doubling the wow factor for night skywatchers near the peak of this year's Perseid meteor shower auroral activity on planet Earth was enhanced by geomagnetic storms. The intense space weather was triggered by flares from an active Sun.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240816.htmlhttps://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240816.html

"Hey,
may i take you on a ride through the twilight into the night sky?? OK, buckle up and off we go .. scroll upwards if you dare to!"

2013 March 31

Flying Over the Earth at Night
* Video Credit: Gateway to Astronaut Photography, NASA
https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/
http://www.nasa.gov/;
* Compilation: David Peterson https://www.youtube.com/user/Bitmeizer;
* Music: Freedom Fighters (Two Steps from Hell)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Steps_from_Hell

Explanation:
Many wonders are visible when flying over the Earth at night. A compilation of such visual spectacles was captured recently from the International Space Station (ISS) and set to rousing music. Passing below are white clouds, orange city lights, lightning flashes in thunderstorms, and dark blue seas. On the horizon is the golden haze of Earth's thin atmosphere, frequently decorated by dancing auroras as the video progresses. The green parts of auroras typically remain below the space station, but the station flies right through the red and purple auroral peaks. Solar panels of the ISS are seen around the frame edges. The ominous wave of approaching brightness at the end of each sequence is just the dawn of the sunlit half of Earth, a dawn that occurs every 90 minutes.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130331.html