May 20, 2024
The universe does not repeat itself. Every sunrise is unique, every snowflake singular, and every birthday yours alone.
Aurora Dome Sky
Birthday · May 20, 2024
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
Free PNG · 1080 × 1350 · No account needed
Image rights and credit requirements apply when sharing or reusing imagery.
Date & occasion only
Change the year
APOD published May 20, 2024. Credit: Xuecheng Liu & Yuxuan Liu. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
It seemed like night, but part of the sky glowed purple. It was the now famous night of May 10, 2024, when people over much of the world reported beautiful aurora-filled skies. The featured image was captured this night during early morning hours from Arlington, Wisconsin, USA. The panorama is a composite of several 6-second exposures covering two thirds of the visible sky, with north in the center, and processed to heighten the colors and remove electrical wires. The photographer (in the foreground) reported that the aurora appeared to flow from a point overhead but illuminated the sky only toward the north. The aurora's energetic particles originated from CMEs ejected from our Sun over sunspot AR 3664 a few days before. This large active region rotated to the far side of the Sun last week, but may well survive to rotate back toward the Earth next week.
Image credit: Xuecheng Liu & Yuxuan Liu