October 21, 2011
April 2, 2008 Nature’s light show—aurora borealis—bathes Maine’s Acadia National Park in a pink glow. These dazzling patterns in nature, called aurora australis in the Southern Hemisphere, are created when charged particles outside the Earth’s atmosphere collide with atoms in the upper atmosphere, producing a glowing display of curtains, arcs, and bands stretching across the sky.  (by the way if you haven’t been to Acadia, I highly recommend it. I’ve been to probably 15 different national parks and Acadia is easily one of my top five)

April 2, 2008 Nature’s light show—aurora borealis—bathes Maine’s Acadia National Park in a pink glow. These dazzling patterns in nature, called aurora australis in the Southern Hemisphere, are created when charged particles outside the Earth’s atmosphere collide with atoms in the upper atmosphere, producing a glowing display of curtains, arcs, and bands stretching across the sky. 

(by the way if you haven’t been to Acadia, I highly recommend it. I’ve been to probably 15 different national parks and Acadia is easily one of my top five)

4:00pm
(Notes: 401)
  
Filed under: science nature aurora borealis maine acadia national park northern lights sky 
September 28, 2011
Auroral curtains swirl over Canada’s Northwest Territories in a picture taken early Monday morning. “This image was taken at Prosperous Lake on September 12 before 3 a.m., when the harvest moon was shining from the left side of the frame,” photographer Yuishi Takasaka said via email.

Auroral curtains swirl over Canada’s Northwest Territories in a picture taken early Monday morning.

“This image was taken at Prosperous Lake on September 12 before 3 a.m., when the harvest moon was shining from the left side of the frame,” photographer Yuishi Takasaka said via email.

5:36pm
(Notes: 343)
  
Filed under: science aurora northern lights sky canada 
September 27, 2011
Although the northern lights display wasn’t at first visible to the naked eye, photographer P-M Hedén captured a faint green “aurorabow” in long-exposure pictures snapped September 9 from Vallentuna, 18.6 miles (30 kilometers) north of Stockholm, Sweden. … The composite picture shows not only the faint green aurora but also moonlit clouds, circular star trails, and the path of an airplane coming in for a landing at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport.

Although the northern lights display wasn’t at first visible to the naked eye, photographer P-M Hedén captured a faint green “aurorabow” in long-exposure pictures snapped September 9 from Vallentuna, 18.6 miles (30 kilometers) north of Stockholm, Sweden.

…

The composite picture shows not only the faint green aurora but also moonlit clouds, circular star trails, and the path of an airplane coming in for a landing at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport.

4:21pm
(Notes: 245)
  
Filed under: science astronomy space stars sky aurora northern lights stolkholm sweden 
August 29, 2011
Star trails swirl through candy-colored auroras in a sweet new view of Sugar Lake in British Columbia, Canada, released this week. Taken in July, the long-exposure picture illustrates how stars seem to rotate around what’s known as the celestial north pole, an imaginary point in the sky closest to the star Polaris—the dot of light at top left—that seems to intersect Earth’s axis of rotation.

Star trails swirl through candy-colored auroras in a sweet new view of Sugar Lake in British Columbia, Canada, released this week.

Taken in July, the long-exposure picture illustrates how stars seem to rotate around what’s known as the celestial north pole, an imaginary point in the sky closest to the star Polaris—the dot of light at top left—that seems to intersect Earth’s axis of rotation.

4:48am
(Notes: 301)
  
Filed under: space astronomy stars science star trails northern lights auroras aurora Sugar Lake British Columbia Canada celestial north pole sky Polaris 
June 7, 2011
The partially eclipsed sun swings low over misty mountains in Changchun, China, early this morning. The first hint of the moon’s silhouette taking a bite out of the sun’s disk was seen from northern China and northern Japan between 4 and 5 a.m., local time, on Thursday. Shortly thereafter, about 60 percent of the sun went dark over Siberia, Russia. Moving east to west, the solar eclipse’s pathway crossed the date line, so far-northern European observers saw the eclipse around 11:30 p.m., local time, on Wednesday.

The partially eclipsed sun swings low over misty mountains in Changchun, China, early this morning.

The first hint of the moon’s silhouette taking a bite out of the sun’s disk was seen from northern China and northern Japan between 4 and 5 a.m., local time, on Thursday. Shortly thereafter, about 60 percent of the sun went dark over Siberia, Russia.

Moving east to west, the solar eclipse’s pathway crossed the date line, so far-northern European observers saw the eclipse around 11:30 p.m., local time, on Wednesday.

12:03pm
(Notes: 96)
  
Filed under: science astronomy sun eclipse partial eclipse sky