﻿ 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 July 4 [2]Planet Venus is pictured in ultraviolet light. The spherical planet appears circular in tan colors with hints of blue. Complex cloud patterns are evident. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. Aurora over Icelandic Waterfall Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Cari Letelier Explanation: It seemed like the sky exploded. The original idea was to photograph an [4]aurora over a waterfall. After waiting for hours under opaque [5]clouds, though, hope was running out. Others left. Then, unexpectedly, the clouds moved away. Suddenly, [6]particles from a large solar magnetic storm were visible impacting the [7]Earth's upper atmosphere with full effect. The night sky filled with [8]colors and motion in a [9]thrilling auroral display. Struggling to steady the camera from [10]high Earthly winds, the 34 exposures that compose the featured image were taken. The [11]resulting featured composite image shows the photogenic Godafoss (Goðafoss) waterfall in northern [12]Iceland in front of a very [13]active aurora in late February. The [14]solar surface explosion that expelled the energetic particles occurred a [15]few days before. Our Sun is showing an impressive amount of [16]surface activity as it approaches [17]solar maximum, indicating that more impressive auroras are likely to appear in Earth's [18]northern and southern sky over the next few years. Tomorrow's picture: very large map __________________________________________________________________ [19]< | [20]Archive | [21]Submissions | [22]Index | [23]Search | [24]Calendar | [25]RSS | [26]Education | [27]About APOD | [28]Discuss | [29]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [30]Robert Nemiroff ([31]MTU) & [32]Jerry Bonnell ([33]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [34]Specific rights apply. [35]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [36]ASD at [37]NASA / [38]GSFC, [39]NASA Science Activation & [40]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2307/WaterfallAurora_Letelier_1600.jpg 3. https://www.instagram.com/cariletelier 4. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/aurora/en/ 5. https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/nasa-knows/what-are-clouds-58.html 6. https://annex.exploratorium.edu/learning_studio/auroras/happen.html 7. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/science/atmosphere-layers2.html 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170306.html 9. https://www.petsworld.in/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Happy_Cat_Smiling.jpg 10. https://youtu.be/rKUipxR3bDc 11. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cto7pd9O_oD/ 12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130517.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190526.html 15. https://spaceweather.com/archive.php?day=25&month=02&year=2023&view=view 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap141022.html 17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_maximum 18. http://ffden-2.phys.uaf.edu/211.fall2000.web.projects/Christina Shaw/WhereCanSee.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230703.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 23. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 28. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230704 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230705.html 30. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 31. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 32. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 33. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 35. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 36. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 37. https://www.nasa.gov/ 38. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 39. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 40. http://www.mtu.edu/