Feeria kolorów zórz polarnych

14 listopada 2007, 21:06

1/6With brilliant Venus above the western horizon at sunset and Jupiter and Saturn high in the east by early evening, Novembers night sky is filled with bright planets. Octobers sky featured bright planets as well and, triggered by the active Sun, some lovely auroral displays. This colorful aurora was recorded by astrophotographer Wade Clark in skies above Hamilton, Washington, USA on the night of October 4th. Through the shimmering northern lights Jupiter and Saturn are easy to spot flanking the V-shaped head of Taurus the Bull. Of course, just above lies the lovely Pleiades star cluster. Solar activity will also produce auroral shows in November, particularly at high northern and southern latitudes. Plus, November skygazers can certainly anticipate a celestial performance on the evening of the 17th18th -- the moonlit Leonid meteor shower.

Inne

2/6usting solar winds and blasts of charged particles from the Sun made the early days of October rewarding ones for those anticipating auroras. While out enjoying the stormy space weather from Toemmeraas, Norway, Trygve Lindersen recorded this picturesque apparition of the northern lights with a digital camera on October 6. From this perspective, the curtains of green light formed a ring which seemed to hover, wraithlike, just above the foreground trees. But the ring of light was actually 100 kilometers or more above the trees and the greenish glow produced by oxygen molecules interacting with energetic electrons and fluorescing near the edge of space. After days of enchanting auroral displays on planet Earth, the solar activity which triggered Octobers geomagnetic storms seems to have subsided ... for now.

Inne

3/6While enjoying the spaceweather on a gorgeous summer evening in mid-July, astronomer Philippe Moussette captured this colorful fish-eye lens view looking north from the Observatoire Mont Cosmos, Quebec, Canada, planet Earth. In the foreground, lights along the northern horizon give an orange cast to the low clouds. But far above the clouds, at altitudes of 100 kilometers or more, are alluring green and purple hues of the aurora borealis or northern lights, a glow powered by energetic particles at the edge of space. In the background are familiar stars of the northern sky. In particular, that famous celestial kitchen utensil, the Big Dipper left, and the W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia right are easy to spot. Then, just follow the pointer stars of the Big Dipper to Polaris, perhaps the most famous northern light of all.

Inne

4/6So far, the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights have made some remarkable visits to Septembers skies. The reason, of course, is the not-so-quiet Sun. In particular, a large solar active region now crossing the Suns disk has produced multiple, intense flares and a large coronal mass ejection CME that triggered wide spread auroral activity just last weekend. This colorful example of spectacular curtains of aurora was captured with a fish-eye lens in skies over Quebec, Canada on September 11. Also featured is the planet Mars, the brightest object above and left of center. Seen near Mars just below and to the right is the tightly knit Pleiades star cluster. Although they can appear to be quite close, the northern lights actually originate at extreme altitudes, 100 kilometers or so above the Earths surface.

Inne

5/6Nestled in the central US, the state of Oklahoma is noted for its gorgeous prairie skies and wide-open spaces, but not for frequent visitations of the northern lights. Still, following the intense solar activity late last month, aurora did come sweeping down the Oklahoma plains and skywatcher Dave Ewoldt managed to catch up with this photogenic apparition 40 miles northwest of Oklahoma City at about 3am CST on October 29. Anticipating aurora sightings, Ewoldt had spent the evening photographing nighttime views of small towns in the area while keeping an eye toward the north. He reports, I was just about ready to call it a night when the show started. When it did, it was like someone turned on a lightswitch. I wish it would have lasted longer... it seemed like it was completely done in about 25 minutes. Watery reflections of the colorful show highlight the foreground in the stunning image while stars of the Big Dipper and the northern sky shine behind the dazzling Oklahoma auroral d

Inne

6/6

Inne