For more of John Russell's photos, please
visit this page.
He has some
spectacular pictures of the solar
storms of March 2001.
Would you like to see the
aurora live?
You may visit this live Aurora
cam based in Norway.
(Note to viewers: As summer solstice approaches,
aurora viewing opportunities will dwindle
as the daylight increases. Camera is out of operation May - mid-August.)
noFor daily
What IS the aurora? Simply stated
(I am not a scientist), it
is caused by the charged
particles generated by the sun (the "solar wind")
striking atoms and molecules
in the upper reaches of Earth's
atmosphere, and giving
them an electrical charge which
causes them to glow.
The effect is similar to our use of neon lights.
For a much better explanation,
please visit the links below!
Some of our ancestors
believed that the "lights in the sky" were the
highways upon which
the souls of the dead traveled to be with
the gods. Others
thought that the ribbons and streamers portended great
events, both evil and
good.
Some of us simply find them
beautiful.
I've shown you some of the pictures, and the science,
about the northern lights.
Now, I would like to show you some of the poetry.
LeRoy Zimmerman does not only spectacular photography,
he also
writes like an angel. I invite you to visit this
page created for him,
on this web site. The pictures and words are
his. Many of them can
also be found on the Solar
Terrestrial Dispatch page. His photographs are panoramas,
so that your eye sees on the computer screen what you would see if
you were there in person.
LeRoy
Zimmerman
The International Space Station (ISS)
crew have a unique view not only of earth, but also of the aurora:
Aurora from Space
Credit: Don Pettit, ISS Expedition 6, NASA
Explanation: From the ground, spectacular auroras seem to dance high above.
But the International Space Station (ISS) orbits at nearly the same height
as many auroras, sometimes passing over them, and sometimes right through
them. Still, the auroral electron and proton streams pose no direct danger
to the ISS. In 2003, ISS Science Officer Don Pettit captured the green aurora,
pictured above in a digitally sharpened image. From orbit, Pettit reported
that changing auroras appeared to crawl around like giant green amoebas. Over
300 kilometers below, the Manicouagan Impact Crater can be seen in northern
Canada, planet Earth.
From:
NASA's Astronomy
Picture of the Day .
When
the solar wind arrives and auroras flare up,
a great place to be is Earth orbit. Here is the
view from the International Space Station (ISS), 200 miles high:
Crewmembers took the picture during a
mild geomagnetic storm on Feb. 1st. [2008] At the time, the ISS was orbiting
over
the Bay of St. Lawrence and the camera (a Nikon D2Xs) pointing north with a
view of Quebec and New Foundland. Although the
auroras appear to be below the ISS, they are in fact at about the same altitude.
Indeed, from time to time, the space station
flies right through the Northern Lights--an
indescribable experience according to astronauts who have been there.
(Text and photo courtesy of SpaceWeather.com)
The aurora also occurs over
the Southern Hemisphere,
where it is called the aurora
australis.
Here are two recent (August 2010) photos taken of the
southern lights from
Australia's Davis base station in Antarctica:
(Above) The green laser lancing into the sky is
the station's lidar, the optical
equivalent of a radar, used to study stratospheric
clouds. (images and text
courtesy of Space Weather).
Our Shuttle astronauts have
taken pictures
of the Aurora, from high
above the Earth's
atmosphere. Here is one such
photo of the southern
aurora:
(above) Notice how you can see the curvature
of the Earth, as
the aurora erupts into space
above. The Belt of Orion is
visible to the right of the large
flare.
Photo courtesy of NASA
(above) Apr. 23, 2010
Location:
South Pole Station, Antarctica
Details:
The sun went down at South Pole Station at 90 degrees S Latitude for 6 months
on March 23 [2010] and we are now seeing aurora. Polar orbiting satellites all
cross at the Poles so the skies are crowded here. A large fraction of photos
capture one or more satellites at this location. The first photo shows South
Pole Telescope (SPT) with an iridium flare and two other satellites. The second
shows a light aurora, South Pole Telescope, the Southern Cross and Alpha
Beta Centauri above. The third photo is an iridium flare passing through the
Southern Cross with Alpha and Beta Centauri to the right. (Canon 7D) J. Dana
Hrubes Winterover, South Pole Telescope Station Science Leader South Pole Station
Antarctica. Photo courtesy of Space Weather
For photos from ground-based
S. Hemisphere aurora fans,
please click here!
Earth is not the only planet with aurorae. Above is a photo
of Jupiter's moon Io.
You can see
a volcanic eruption to the left, spewing out into space,
and on ther right is an aurora caused by the intense radiation from Jupiter.
Photo was taken by New Horizons spacecraft on 28 February 2007.
Courtesy of NASA.
Interested in learning
more about aurora?
Visit these enlightening
links.
|
Space
Weather.com
Daily
updated information and links
on the state of the sun, the aurora, meteors,
and other space phenomena. You
may also sign up for free e-mail
notification of current space events. |
|
Solar Terrestrial
Dispatch
Same as Space Weather, but with more
detailed aurora viewing info, including
imagery and data in near real time. Includes
an area to report aurora sightings,
and a notification service.
|
This page is dedicated to
two men who I have loved with all my heart --
my father, Don, and my husband, Rich
Owens.
Dad gave me the gifts of curiosity, questioning, and
how to seek the answers.... and most of all.... the
gift of awe. Rich gave me the gift of love -- forever and for
always. I was blessed to seek and to see the aurora with both
of these good men. I am blessed to have been loved by both of them.
This page is also dedicated
to.....
The
Memory of the Crew of the Space Shuttle
Columbia.
If you enjoyed this page,
please visit our annoying parrots!
You may want also to visit
our other pages:
Alaska! Aurora,
beautiful vistas, and a wedding.....
Great Horned Owl
Release
Raptors! Some
of the hawks, eagles, and owls at the World Bird Sanctuary
Questions or comments:
E-mail Sue
Evans
|
This web site was authored
by Sue Evans. I want thank
the gentlemen whose photos
are featured here
for their gracious permission
to use them.
A special thanks goes to Jan
Curtis, who
provided scientific critiquing
of the
words on these pages.
You are enlightened mind
to visit these pages. Thank you!
Background music: "Stairway
to Heaven",
Led Zeppelin
This page last updated 30 August 2010.
Copyright 2001-2010.