APOD: A Whale of an Aurora over Swedish Forest (2022 Mar 22)

[APOD Robot]

A Whale of an Aurora over Swedish Forest

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 Östersund. 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.

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[BikerMike]

Looks like a bird to me.

[Guest]

it is a green phoenix!

[Guest]

A dove.

[Marza]

It looks like AB eagle to me

[VictorBorun]

do I get it right: in the posted 360°panorama a shadow from the moonlight is casted on the snow seemingly toward the source of the light?

[songwriterz]

Hummingbird

[orin stepanek]

Is it because of the fish eye view that makes it look like this?

Three dogs at night???

[bystander]

dogs_surprised.jpg
Three dogs at night???

Click to view full size image

[De58te]

That looks truly awesome. What I find equally amazing in this picture besides the auroral corona, is how the clouds in northern Sweden, seen here above and to the side of the aurora, can mimic almost exactly the look of trees growing in the sky!? Would this be some kind of atmospheric illusion perhaps called a mirage? Never in my life have I seen clouds that look like trees. Although I have seen a cloud that looked like a horse or a dog, but still they retain their white color as the surrounding clouds and I was never fooled that it was an actual horse or dog.

[Chris Peterson]

That looks truly awesome. What I find equally amazing in this picture besides the auroral corona, is how the clouds in northern Sweden, seen here above and to the side of the aurora, can mimic almost exactly the look of trees growing in the sky!? Would this be some kind of atmospheric illusion perhaps called a mirage? Never in my life have I seen clouds that look like trees. Although I have seen a cloud that looked like a horse or a dog, but still they retain their white color as the surrounding clouds and I was never fooled that it was an actual horse or dog.

Say what?

[johnnydeep]

That looks truly awesome. What I find equally amazing in this picture besides the auroral corona, is how the clouds in northern Sweden, seen here above and to the side of the aurora, can mimic almost exactly the look of trees growing in the sky!? Would this be some kind of atmospheric illusion perhaps called a mirage? Never in my life have I seen clouds that look like trees. Although I have seen a cloud that looked like a horse or a dog, but still they retain their white color as the surrounding clouds and I was never fooled that it was an actual horse or dog.

Say what?

Yeah, I don't get it. The only things I see that look like trees ARE trees!

[johnnydeep]

Clearly looks more like a hummingbird than anything else. Eye is the bright moon, with the beak off to the upper left.

But what does this mean:

"Part of this cloud [of protons, electrons and ions] impacted our Earth's magnetosphere and, bolstered by a sudden gap, resulted in spectacular auroras"

A gap in what, and why would a gap bolster anything?

[johnnydeep]

Hey - where's neufer gotten to? He hasn't posted in a good while. Hope he's alright and just on vacation.

[Chris Peterson]

Clearly looks more like a hummingbird than anything else. Eye is the bright moon, with the beak off to the upper left.

But what does this mean:

"Part of this cloud [of protons, electrons and ions] impacted our Earth's magnetosphere and, bolstered by a sudden gap, resulted in spectacular auroras"

A gap in what, and why would a gap bolster anything?

It was a gap (or opening, or weak spot) in the magnetosphere that allowed the flood of charged particles to penetrate deep enough into the atmosphere to create an aurora.

[Cousin Ricky]

I see a raptor with outstretched wings. I cannot make out a whale.

[starsurfer]

I see two owls colliding with each other?

[orin stepanek]

dogs_surprised.jpg
Three dogs at night???

Click to view full size image

Exactly what I was thinking! "Joy to the World"!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dMIMJqDq0s

[XgeoX]

do I get it right: in the posted 360°panorama a shadow from the moonlight is casted on the snow seemingly toward the source of the light?
WhaleAurora_Strand_1500+.jpg

The shadow was created from a wide flash that was used to illuminate the photographer and foreground during the exposure. The time exposure it self was too short (notice no long light trails in the sky) to capture the moon’s shadow.
Nice idea though!

Eric

[VictorBorun]

do I get it right: in the posted 360°panorama a shadow from the moonlight is casted on the snow seemingly toward the source of the light?
WhaleAurora_Strand_1500+.jpg

The shadow was created from a wide flash that was used to illuminate the photographer and foreground during the exposure. The time exposure it self was too short (notice no long light trails in the sky) to capture the moon’s shadow.
Nice idea though!

Eric

What about the shadows from the posts? They are too distant for a flash, are not they?

[VictorBorun]

That looks truly awesome. What I find equally amazing in this picture besides the auroral corona, is how the clouds in northern Sweden, seen here above and to the side of the aurora, can mimic almost exactly the look of trees growing in the sky!? Would this be some kind of atmospheric illusion perhaps called a mirage? Never in my life have I seen clouds that look like trees. Although I have seen a cloud that looked like a horse or a dog, but still they retain their white color as the surrounding clouds and I was never fooled that it was an actual horse or dog.

Say what?

Yeah, I don't get it. The only things I see that look like trees ARE trees!

I think I was similarly confused at first by this 360° panorama.
Then I said to myself, imagine you are lying on your back staring at the zenith, and the trees are covering all the edge of your field of view.
That worked for me.

[johnnydeep]

do I get it right: in the posted 360°panorama a shadow from the moonlight is casted on the snow seemingly toward the source of the light?
WhaleAurora_Strand_1500+.jpg

The shadow was created from a wide flash that was used to illuminate the photographer and foreground during the exposure. The time exposure it self was too short (notice no long light trails in the sky) to capture the moon’s shadow.
Nice idea though!

Eric

What about the shadows from the posts? They are too distant for a flash, are not they?
WhaleAurora_Strand_1500+2.jpg

Yeah, the shadow of the poles on the left are definitely not in the same direction as the man's shadow. Something else must be causing them.