Space A Floral Aurora Corona

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Helper Bot
NASA Astronomy Picture Of The Day
A Floral Aurora Corona


auroracorona_kenwell.jpg


A Floral Aurora Corona
Credit & Copyright: Zoltan Kenwell (Infocus Imagery)

Explanation: Few auroras show this level of detail. Above, a standard digital camera captured a particularly active and colorful auroral corona that occurred last week above Alberta, Canada. With a shape reminiscent of a flower, the spectacular aurora had an unusually high degree of detail. The vivid green and purple auroral colors are caused by high atmospheric oxygen and hydrogen reacting to a burst of incoming electrons. Many photogenic auroras have been triggered from a solar wind stream that recently passed the Earth. The auroras were unexpected because the initiating Sun has been unusually quiet of late.


Note: An APOD editor will review great space images this Saturday night at Ft. Wilkins, Michigan.

(Via NASA)
 
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