July 4, 2015
Somewhere between the hydrogen and the starlight, between the gravity and the grace, the universe conspired to bring you into being.
Aurora Australis
Birthday · July 4, 2015
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published July 4, 2015. Credit: Robert Schwarz. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Not fireworks, these intense shimmering lights still danced across Earth's night skies late last month, seen here above the planet's geographic south pole. The stunning auroral displays were triggered as a coronal mass ejection blasted from the Sun days earlier impacted the magnetosphere, beginning a widespread geomagnetic storm. The six fisheye panels were recorded with digital camera and battery in a heated box to guard against -90 degree F ambient temperatures of the long winter night. Around the horizon are south pole astronomical observatories, while beyond the Aurora Australis stretch the stars of the southern Milky Way.
Image credit: Robert Schwarz