March 24, 2014
The night sky on your birthday is never quite the same twice — the planets shift, the constellations drift, the Moon wears a different phase.
Orion and Aurora over Iceland
Birthday · March 24, 2014
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APOD published March 24, 2014. Credit: �orvar�ur �rnason. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
If you see a sky like this -- photograph it. A month ago in Iceland, an adventurous photographer chanced across a sky full of aurora and did just that. In the foreground lies the stratovolcano �r�faj�kull. In the background, among other sky delights, lies the constellation of Orion, visible to the aurora's left. Auroras are sparked by energetic particles from the Sun impacting the magnetic environment around the Earth. Resultant energetic particles such as electrons and protons rain down near the Earth's poles and impact the air. The impacted air molecules obtain excited electrons, and when electrons in oxygen molecules fall back to their ground state, they emit green light. Auroras are known to have many shapes and colors. Click Hyperspace: Random APOD Generator
Image credit: �orvar�ur �rnason