A Perseid Aurora
Credit & Copyright:
Jimmy Westlake
(Colorado Mountain College)
Just after the
Moon set but before the
Sun rose in the
early morning hours of August 12,
meteors pelted the Earth from the direction of the constellation
Perseus, while
ions
pelted the Earth from the
Sun.
The
meteors were expected as sub-sand grains long left behind by
Comet Swift-Tuttle annually create the
Perseids Meteor Shower.
The aurorae
were unexpected, however, as
electrons,
protons, and
heavier ions raced out from a large
Coronal Mass Ejection that had
occurred just days
before on the Sun.
In the foreground is Hahn's Peak, an extinct volcano in
Colorado,
USA.