May 17, 2024
The cosmos is full of spectacular things: ringed planets, exploding suns, rivers of stars across the night.
Aurora Banks Peninsula
Birthday · May 17, 2024
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APOD published May 17, 2024. Credit: Kavan Chay. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
This well-composed composite panoramic view looks due south from Banks Peninsula near Christchurch on New Zealand's South Island. The base of a tower-like rocky sea stack is awash in the foreground, with stars of the Southern Cross at the top of the frame and planet Earth's south celestial pole near center. Still, captured on May 11, vibrant aurora australis dominate the starry southern sea and skyscape. The shimmering southern lights were part of extensive auroral displays that entertained skywatchers in northern and southern hemispheres around planet Earth, caused by intense geomagnetic storms. The extreme spaceweather was triggered by the impact of coronal mass ejections launched from powerful solar active region AR 3664. AuroraSaurus: Report your aurora observations
Image credit: Kavan Chay