October 22, 2023
There are stars whose light will never reach us, worlds we will never touch, mysteries we may never solve.
Ghost Aurora over Canada
Birthday · October 22, 2023
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APOD published October 22, 2023. Credit: Yuichi Takasaka, TWAN. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
What does this aurora look like to you? While braving the cold to watch the skies above northern Canada early one morning in 2013, a most unusual aurora appeared. The aurora definitely appeared to be shaped like something, but what? Two ghostly possibilities recorded by the astrophotographer were "witch" and "goddess of dawn", but please feel free to suggest your own Halloween-enhanced impressions. Regardless of fantastical pareidolic interpretations, the pictured aurora had a typical green color and was surely caused by the scientifically commonplace action of high-energy particles from space interacting with oxygen in Earth's upper atmosphere. In the image foreground, at the bottom, is a frozen Alexandra Falls, while evergreen trees cross the middle. Help Wanted: Professional-astronomer level guest writers and assistant editors for APOD
Image credit: Yuichi Takasaka, TWAN