Subj : Daily APOD Report
To   : All
From : Alan Ianson
Date : Tue Mar 22 2022 00:05:54

                        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.

                                2022 March 22

                  A Whale of an Aurora over Swedish Forest
                   Image Credit & Copyright: G++ran Strand

   Explanation: What's that in the sky? An aurora. A large coronal mass
   ejection occurred on our Sun earlier this month, throwing a cloud of
   fast-moving electrons, protons, and ions toward the Earth. Part of this
   cloud impacted our Earth's magnetosphere and, bolstered by a sudden
   gap, resulted in spectacular auroras being seen at some high northern
   latitudes. Featured here is a particularly photogenic auroral corona
   captured above a forest in Sweden from a scenic perch overlooking the
   city of +ūstersund. To some, this shimmering green glow of recombining
   atmospheric oxygen might appear like a large whale, but feel free to
   share what it looks like to you. The unusually quiet Sun of the past
   few years has now passed. As our Sun now approaches a solar maximum in
   its 11-year solar magnetic cycle, dramatic auroras like this are sure
   to continue.

      Open Science: Browse 2,700+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code
                                   Library
                       Tomorrow's picture: big bubble
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
                NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-6
 * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

.