Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]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.

                                2023 April 19
    [2]Two people dressed in red coats are standing on a snowy landscape
    with bare trees. Above, many aurorae of different colors appear, with
    some stars visible in the background. Please see the explanation for
                         more detailed information.

                         Auroral Storm over Lapland
    Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Juan Carlos Casado ([5]Starry Earth,
                                  [6]TWAN)

   Explanation: On some nights the sky is the best show in town. On this
   night, [7]auroras ruled the sky, and the [8]geomagnetic storm that
   created this [9]colorful sky show originated from an [10]increasingly
   active Sun. [11]Surprisingly, since the approaching [12]solar CME the
   day before had missed the Earth, it was not expected that this storm
   would create auroras. In the foreground, two happily surprised aurora
   hunters contemplate the amazing and rapidly changing sky. Regardless of
   forecasts, though, [13]auroras were reported in the night skies of
   Earth not only in the far north, but as far south as [14]New Mexico,
   [15]USA. As captured in a wide-angle image above [16]Saariselkä in
   northern [17]Finnish [18]Lapland, a bright aurora was visible with an
   unusually high degree of detail, range of colors, and breadth across
   the sky. The vivid yellow, green, red and purple [19]auroral colors are
   caused by [20]oxygen and [21]nitrogen atoms high in [22]Earth's
   atmosphere reacting to incoming [23]electrons.

    Open Science: [24]Browse 3,000+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code
                                   Library
                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
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    Authors & editors: [36]Robert Nemiroff ([37]MTU) & [38]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([39]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [40]Specific rights apply.
              [41]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [42]ASD at [43]NASA / [44]GSFC,
                         [45]NASA Science Activation
                           & [46]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2304/AuroraSnow_Casado_3000.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. https://www.twanight.org/casado
   5. https://www.flickr.com/photos/starryearth/albums/
   6. https://www.twanight.org/
   7. https://apod.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search?tquery=aurora
   8. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/spaceweather/index.html#q7
   9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170306.html
  10. https://spaceweatherarchive.com/2023/02/04/sunspot-counts-hit-their-highest-level-in-9-years/
  11. https://media.istockphoto.com/id/1128004359/photo/close-up-scottish-fold-cat-head-with-shocking-face-and-wide-open-eyes-frighten-or-surprised.jpg?s=170667a&w=0&k=20&c=0x_xd9aj8iHg0vn-DHE9OJdjKyeOI6tDWWmqt91MteU=
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160110.html
  13. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/aurora/en/
  14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Mexico
  15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States
  16. https://youtu.be/K9sAsThBkwg
  17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland
  18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sápmi
  19. https://www.exploratorium.edu/learning_studio/auroras/difcolors.html
  20. https://periodic.lanl.gov/8.shtml
  21. https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/news/new-insights-into-how-earth-got-its-nitrogen/
  22. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/science/atmosphere-layers2.html
  23. https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200010/history.cfm
  24. https://ascl.net/code/all
  25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230418.html
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  29. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  34. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230419
  35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230420.html
  36. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  37. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  38. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  39. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  40. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  41. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  42. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  43. https://www.nasa.gov/
  44. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  45. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  46. http://www.mtu.edu/