Friday, December 22, 2006

Aurora Over Iowa

Click on Image to Enlarge
Credit & Copyright: Stan Richards (NightSkyEvents.com)

Explanation: Last Thursday evening, stars were not the only lights in Iowa skies. Spectacular northern lights also shone from the heavens, extending across the midwestern USA and other locations not often graced with auroral displays. The wide-ranging auroral activity was triggered as a large solar flare - an energetic cloud of particles blasted outward from the Sun a few days earlier - collided with planet Earth's magnetosphere. Alerted to conditions ripe for aurora, photographer Stan Richard recorded this apparition over Saylorville Lake, near Des Moines, Iowa, USA. While the colorful rays seem to end just above the water, they are actually at altitudes of 100 kilometers or more.

6 comments:

Tommykey said...

I've always wanted to see one of those with my own eyes. Some day...

Stardust said...

Me too, tommy. My father tells me about what they were like when he was stationed on a ship in Alaska back in the 1940s. He was up near Wittier for awhile, too. They only had black and white film cameras back then, so the photos are not very spectacular.

Michael Bains said...

It's not quite the same, but is the first thing I thought 'bout when seeing that incredibly beautiful pic.

Sunspots Baby!

A Sublime Solstice to you and yours, Stardust! Have a real good time, eh. {-;

Stardust said...

You too, michael...and thanks for the link!

Anonymous said...

Hey, Debbie, the aura around you is pretty special too. Have a great Xmas.

Stardust said...

Happy Holidays to you,too daniel and to all my friends here in blogland who take the time to come by and read my lil' ol' blog! Happy New Year to all.