Showing posts with label aurora. Show all posts
Showing posts with label aurora. Show all posts

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Cave with Aurora Skylight

Cave with Aurora Skylight: APOD: 2014 July 22 - Cave with Aurora Skylight


Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2014 July 22


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: Yes, but have you ever seen aurora from a cave? To capture this fascinating juxtaposition between below and above, astrophotographer Bjargmundsson spent much of a night alone in the kilometer-long Raufarhólshellir lava cave in Iceland during late March. There, he took separate images of three parts of the cave using a strobe for illumination. He also took a deep image of the sky to capture faint aurora, and digitally combined the four images later. The 4600-year old lava tube has several skylights under which stone rubble and snow have accumulated. Oh -- the person standing on each mound -- it's the artist.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Aurora and Milky Way in a Little Sky

Aurora and Milky Way in a Little Sky: APOD: 2014 October 3 - Aurora and Milky Way in a Little Sky


Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2014 October 3


See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.
Explanation: Stepping stones seem to lead to the Milky Way as it stretches across this little sky. Of course, the scene is really the northern hemisphere's autumnal equinox night. Water and sky are inverted by a top to bottom, around the horizon stereographic projection centered on the zenith above Lake Storsjön in Jämtland, Sweden. In the north the Milky Way arcs from east to west overhead as fall begins, but the season is also a good time for viewing aurora. Geomagnetic storms increase in frequency near the equinox and produce remarkable displays of northern lights at high latitudes, like the eerie greenish glow reflected in this watery cosmos.