A Full Sky Multicolored Auroral Corona
Credit & Copyright:
Philippe
Moussette
(Obs. Mont
Cosmos)
On some nights the sky is the most interesting show in town.
This fisheye picture captures a particularly active and colorful
auroral corona that occurred two days ago over l'Observatoire de la Decouverte in Val Belair near
Quebec,
Canada.
The above spectacular aurora has an unusually
high degree of
detail, range of
colors, and breadth across the sky.
The vivid green, red, and blue
auroral colors are likely caused by high atmospheric
oxygen and
hydrogen
reacting to incoming
electrons.
The trigger events were
magnetically induced explosions on the
Sun from
sunspot region 696 over the past few days.
Continued activity from this active solar region could
mean more auroras visible to northern observers over the next few days.
Early in the morning but far in the background,
planets, stars and the Moon will be simultaneously putting on
their own show.