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. 2024 August 14 [2]A night sky filled with stars is colored partly purple by an aurora. Also visible are several streaks which are meteors in this image composite. In the foreground is a field and lone tree. Part of the tree slants at the nearly the same angle of the meteor streaks. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. Meteors and Aurora over Germany Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Chantal Anders Explanation: This was an unusual night. For one thing, the night sky of August 11 and 12, earlier this week, occurred near the peak of the annual [4]Perseid Meteor Shower. Therefore, meteors streaked across the dark night as small bits cast off from [5]Comet Swift-Tuttle came crashing into the [6]Earth's atmosphere. Even more unusually, for central [7]Germany at least, the night [8]sky glowed purple. The red-blue hue was due to aurora caused by an [9]explosion of particles from the [10]Sun a few days before. [11]This auroral storm was so intense that it was seen as far south as [12]Texas and [13]Italy, in Earth's northern hemisphere. The [14]featured image composite was built from 7 exposures taken over 26 minutes from [15]Ense, [16]Germany. The Perseids occur [17]predictably every August, but auroras visible this far south are more unusual and less predictable. Gallery: [18]Perseid Meteor Shower 2024 and Aurorae Tomorrow's picture: open space __________________________________________________________________ [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: Amber Straughn [34]Specific rights apply. [35]NASA Web Privacy, [36]Accessibility, [37]Notices; A service of: [38]ASD at [39]NASA / [40]GSFC, [41]NASA Science Activation & [42]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2408/AuroraPerseids_Anders_4855.jpg 3. https://www.instagram.com/wetter_eule/ 4. https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/perseids/ 5. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap960219.html 6. https://www.nasa.gov/general/what-is-earths-atmosphere/ 7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240612.html 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180902.html 10. https://science.nasa.gov/sun/ 11. https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/severe-g4-geomagnetic-storms-observed-12-aug-2024 12. https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=211318 13. https://spaceweathergallery2.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=211357 14. https://www.instagram.com/p/C-k4uM-NtSP/ 15. https://youtu.be/7SylqzpjQfA 16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany 17. https://mrwallpaper.com/images/high/cute-yet-bored-funny-cat-e2ftbgrfxrbazqsb.webp 18. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.488496753878907&type=3 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240813.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.com/feed.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=240814 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240815.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://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/ 37. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/ 38. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 39. https://www.nasa.gov/ 40. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 41. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 42. http://www.mtu.edu/