APOD: Northern Lights and Noctilucent Clouds (2018 Jun 21)

[APOD Robot]

Northern Lights and Noctilucent Clouds

Explanation: Skies after the near-solstice sunset on June 17 are reflected in this calm lake. The tranquil twilight scene was captured near Bashaw, Alberta, Canada, northern planet Earth. Usually spotted at high latitudes in summer months, night shining or noctilucent clouds hang just above the horizon, transfusing light into a darker sky. Near the edge of space, the icy apparitions are condensations on meteoric dust or volcanic ash still in sunlight at extreme altitudes. Also near the edge of space on this short northern night, solar activity triggered the lovely apparition of aurora borealis or northern lights.

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[Boomer12k]

Great Shot...

Two phenomena at the same time... great.

:---[===] *

[Case]

Often we see purple parts of the aurora below the green (and red on top), but here we see purple above the green. I suspect that this is because the top part or the aurora is illuminated by sunlight, so we see some scattering towards the blue. Very special!

[orin stepanek]

Nice picture!

[Sa Ji Tario]

The image seems modified in the colors that's why it looks like it says "Caso"

[Es Posible]

The image seems modified in the colors that's why it looks like it says "Caso"

I couldn't find any image or processing data on the artist's website but the colors do look a bit saturated to my eye. I don't see the "Caso" you refer to though.

[zendae1]

These photos are always compelling, but I only wish this: I have seen the aurora in all it's glory once, and noctilucent clouds once. Each time, it was much darker than in any of the photos that I have seen depict. I would like to see this as I have seen it, with the proper darkness. The photos always look like it is virtually daytime but with stars. Back in 1976, when the aurora came down to my latitude - 40 North - I took photos of it with an old Brownie-type camera that used type 616 film. The photos were beautiful, and they showed the true darkness. When I saw the noctilucent clouds, back in the mid 1960s, the sky was quite dark, and only the faintest glimmer of fading twilight shone. The clouds were truly dramatic glowing wisps in a night sky. As beautiful as our current pics are, I have yet to see a photo of either event that duplicates this.

[Sa Ji Tario]

For ES POSIBLE "case" is Case commander that writes above and the appreciation is that the image is "clarified" a little

[MarkBour]

This is a lovely and very calming image.

Recalling a discussion on the APOD for June 14, I was happy to see this new example of an image of a specular reflection from a lake's surface. As with the June 14 image, it is interesting to note the differences in the direct image and the reflected image. Here again, the reflected image seems to be very slightly "stretched out" overall (along with other irregularities). Actually, the sense of stretching may be a psychological effect of completely random variations, explainable by the situation of putting random variations along a limited line segment. I shall have to reflect on this possibility further.