March 27, 2023
The universe has spent billions of years making things that shine. On your birthday, we celebrate one of its quieter masterpieces.
Aurora Over Arctic Henge
Birthday · March 27, 2023
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APOD published March 27, 2023. Credit: Cari Letelier. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Reports of powerful solar flares started a seven-hour quest north to capture modern monuments against an aurora-filled sky. The peaks of iconic Arctic Henge in Raufarhöfn in northern Iceland were already aligned with the stars: some are lined up toward the exact north from one side and toward exact south from the other. The featured image, taken after sunset late last month, looks directly south, but since the composite image covers so much of the sky, the north star Polaris is actually visible at the very top of the frame. Also visible are familiar constellations including the Great Bear (Ursa Major) on the left, and the Hunter (Orion) on the lower right. The quest was successful. The sky lit up dramatically with bright and memorable auroras that shimmered with amazing colors including red, pink, yellow, and green -- sometimes several at once.
Image credit: Cari Letelier