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APOD
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.
Meteors and Aurora over Germany
Explanation: This was an unusual night. For one thing, the night sky of August 11 and 12, earlier this week, occurred near the peak of the annual Perseid Meteor Shower . Therefore, meteors streaked across the dark night as small bits cast off from Comet Swift-Tuttle came crashing into the Earth's atmosphere . Even more unusually, for central Germany at least, the night sky glowed purple . The red-blue hue was due to aurora caused by an explosion of particles from the Sun a few days before. This auroral storm was so intense that it was seen as far south as Texas and Italy , in Earth's northern hemisphere. The featured image composite was built from 7 exposures taken over 26 minutes from Ense , Germany . The Perseids occur predictably every August, but auroras visible this far south are more unusual and less predictable.
Gallery: Perseid Meteor Shower 2024 and Aurorae
| Date | August 14, 2024 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Image Credit & Copyright: Chantal Anders |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |