Astronomy Picture of the Day

    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.

                               2021 January 3

                        A Phoenix Aurora over Iceland
   Image Credit & Copyright: Hallgrimur P. Helgason; Rollover Annotation:
                                Judy Schmidt

   Explanation: All of the other aurora watchers had gone home. By 3:30 am
   in Iceland, on a quiet September night, much of that night's auroras
   had died down. Suddenly, unexpectedly, a new burst of particles
   streamed down from space, lighting up the Earth's atmosphere once
   again. This time, surprisingly, pareidoliacally, the night lit up with
   an amazing shape reminiscent of a giant phoenix. With camera equipment
   at the ready, two quick sky images were taken, followed immediately by
   a third of the land. The mountain in the background is Helgafell, while
   the small foreground river is called Kaldá, both located about 30
   kilometers north of Iceland's capital Reykjavík. Seasoned skywatchers
   will note that just above the mountain, toward the left, is the
   constellation of Orion, while the Pleiades star cluster is also visible
   just above the frame center. The 2016 aurora, which lasted only a
   minute and was soon gone forever -- would possibly be dismissed as an
   fanciful fable -- were it not captured in the featured,
   digitally-composed, image mosaic.

                  Almost Hyperspace: Random APOD Generator
                      Tomorrow's picture: lightening up
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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