Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos!
Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is
featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2014 August 9
A Luminous Night
Image Credit &
Copyright:
Phil Hart
Explanation:
What shines in
the world
at night?
Just visible to the eye, a rare electric blue glow spread
along the shores of Victoria Lake on January 16, 2013.
Against reflections of a light near the horizon,
this digitally stacked long exposure
recorded the bioluminescence
of
noctiluca scintillans,
plankton stimulated by the lapping waves.
Above, the night skies of the Gippsland Lakes
region, Victoria, Australia shine with a fainter
greenish airglow.
Oxygen atoms in the upper atmosphere, initially
excited by ultraviolet sunlight, produce the more widely seen fading
atmospheric
chemiluminescence.
Washed out by the Earth's rotation, the faint band
of the southern summer Milky Way stretches from the horizon
as star trails circle the South Celestial Pole.
Watch:
Meteors vs. Supermoon
Tomorrow's picture: meteor below
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Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(
MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell (
UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman
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