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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.

See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.

Aurora and Unusual Clouds Over Iceland

Explanation: What's happening in the sky? On this cold winter night in Iceland, quite a lot. First, in the foreground, lies the largest glacier in Iceland : Vatnajokull . On the far left, bright green auroras appear to emanate from the glacier as if it was a volcano . Aurora light is reflected by the foreground lake Jkulsrln . On the far right is a long and unusual lenticular cloud tinged with green light emitted from another aurora well behind it. Just above this lenticular cloud are unusual iridescent lenticular clouds displaying a broad spectral range of colors. Far beyond the lenticular is the setting Moon , while far beyond even the Moon are setting stars . The above image was captured in late March of 2012.

Happy Holidays: Free APOD 2014 Calendar in PDF format

Date November 18, 2013
Credit Image Credit & Copyright: Stéphane Vetter ( Nuits sacrées )
Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.