﻿ 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. 2022 February 8 [2]The featured image shows the photographer standing beneath a night sky with green aurora on the left and colorful light pillars on the right. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. Aurora and Light Pillars over Norway Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Alexandre Correia Explanation: Which half of this sky is your favorite? On the left, the night sky is lit up by particles expelled from the [4]Sun that later collided with [5]Earth's upper atmosphere — creating bright auroras. On the right, the night glows with ground lights reflected by millions of tiny [6]ice crystals falling from the sky — creating [7]light pillars. And in the center, the astrophotographer presents your choices. The [8]light pillars are vertical columns because the fluttering ice-crystals are [9]mostly flat to the ground, and their colors are those of the ground lights. The auroras cover the sky and ground in the [10]green hue of glowing oxygen, while their transparency is clear because you can see stars right through them. Distant stars dot the background, including bright stars from the iconic constellation of [11]Orion. The featured image was captured in a single exposure two months ago near [12]Kautokeino, [13]Norway. Favorite sky half: [14]Left half (aurora) | [15]Right half (light pillars) Tomorrow's picture: to circle a dying star __________________________________________________________________ [16]< | [17]Archive | [18]Submissions | [19]Index | [20]Search | [21]Calendar | [22]RSS | [23]Education | [24]About APOD | [25]Discuss | [26]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [27]Robert Nemiroff ([28]MTU) & [29]Jerry Bonnell ([30]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [31]Specific rights apply. [32]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [33]ASD at [34]NASA / [35]GSFC & [36]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2202/AuroraPillars_Correia_4898.jpg 3. mailto: agcorreia at me dot com 4. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/sun/overview/ 5. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/science/mos-upper-atmosphere.html 6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_crystals 7. http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halo/lpil.htm 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160208.html 9. https://ap-pics2.gotpoem.com/ap-pics/item/14788/92.jpg 10. http://www.webexhibits.org/causesofcolor/4D.html 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220118.html 12. https://youtu.be/YJu_aUHeVL4 13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway 14. https://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=42195 15. https://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=42195 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220207.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 20. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 25. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=220208 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220209.html 27. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 28. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 29. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 30. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 32. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 33. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 34. https://www.nasa.gov/ 35. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 36. http://www.mtu.edu/