October 3, 2014
The oldest light in the universe still hums faintly through space, a relic of the beginning itself.
Aurora and Milky Way in a Little Sky
Birthday · October 3, 2014
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APOD published October 3, 2014. Credit: Göran Strand. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Stepping stones seem to lead to the Milky Way as it stretches across this little sky. Of course, the scene is really the northern hemisphere's autumnal equinox night. Water and sky are inverted by a top to bottom, around the horizon stereographic projection centered on the zenith above Lake Storsjön in Jämtland, Sweden. In the north the Milky Way arcs from east to west overhead as fall begins, but the season is also a good time for viewing aurora. Geomagnetic storms increase in frequency near the equinox and produce remarkable displays of northern lights at high latitudes, like the eerie greenish glow reflected in this watery cosmos.
Image credit: Göran Strand