Starship Asterisk*

Aurora on Ice

Explanation: Not from a snowglobe, this expansive fisheye view of ice and sky was captured on February 1, from Jökulsárlón Beach, southeast Iceland, planet Earth. Chunks of glacial ice on the black sand beach glisten in the light of a nearly full moon surrounded by a shining halo. The 22 degree lunar halo itself is created by ice crystals in high, thin clouds refracting the moonlight. Despite the bright moonlight, curtains of aurora still dance through the surreal scene. In early February, their activity was triggered by Earth's restless magnetosphere and the energetic wind from a coronal hole near the Sun's south pole. Bright Jupiter, also near opposition, is visible at the left, beyond the icy lunar halo.

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And it is icy cold here in Washington DC today....

hoohaw wrote:And it is icy cold here in Washington DC today....

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Planet Earth.... Minus 26 C (wind chill Minus 38 C)

Washington DC, USA, Planet Earth... Minus 3 C

REMS Monitoring Station, Planet Mars... Plus 2 C
(http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/in ... sors/rems/)

Some of us were just born on the wrong planet...

Lovely image! And the moon is reflected in the large ice crystals on the ground, as opposed to being refracted through them.

Guest wrote: . . . REMS Monitoring Station, Planet Mars... Plus 2 C
(http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/in ... sors/rems/)
Some of us were just born on the wrong planet...

Thanks for sharing that. A balmy day on Mars? On the other hand, the low tonight will evidently be about -72 C.

Just how large are these chucks of ice?

Does anyone want to guess what the halo around the Moon in this image remind me of?

"I'm sorry, Dave, I can't do that."

Rob