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Астронет: Астрономическая картинка дня Деревья, звёзды, полярное сияние http://www.variable-stars.ru/db/msg/1255875/eng |
Credit & Copyright: Christian MЭlhauser;
Music: Elemental by Pulse Faction; Path of Stars by Jonathan Geer
Explanation:
Have you ever seen an aurora?
Auroras are occurring again with increasing frequency.
With the Sun being
unusually
dormant over the past four years, the amount of Sun-induced auroras has been
unusually low.
More recently, however,
our Sun has become increasingly active and
exhibiting
a greater abundance of
sunspots,
flares, and
coronal mass ejections.
Solar activity
like this
typically expels charged particles into the Solar System, some of which may trigger
Earthly auroras.
Two weeks ago, beyond trees and before stars, a solar storm precipitated the
above timelapse displays
of picturesque auroras above Ravnastua, Skoganvarre and
Lakselv,
Norway.
Curtains of auroral light, typically green,
flow,
shimmer and
dance as
energetic particles fall toward the Earth and
excite
air molecules high up in the Earth's atmosphere.
With solar maximum still in the future, there may be
even better opportunities to see spectacular
auroras personally over the next few
years.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.