Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]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.

                                2023 July 30
   [2]A bright green spiral aurora is seen in a break in the clouds before
     a purple background. The foreground contains green grassland and a
         circular lake. Please see the explanation for more detailed
                                information.

                     Spiral Aurora over Icelandic Divide
    Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Juan Carlos Casado ([5]Starry Earth,
                                  [6]TWAN)

   Explanation: Admire the beauty but fear the beast. The beauty is the
   [7]aurora overhead, here taking the form of a great green [8]spiral,
   seen between picturesque clouds with the bright Moon to the side and
   stars in the background. The beast is the wave of charged particles
   that creates the [9]aurora but might, one day, impair civilization. In
   1859, following [10]notable auroras seen all across the globe, a pulse
   of charged particles from a [11]coronal mass ejection (CME) associated
   with a [12]solar flare impacted Earth's [13]magnetosphere so forcefully
   that it created the [14]Carrington Event. This assault from the Sun
   compressed the [15]Earth's magnetic field so violently that it created
   [16]high currents and [17]sparks along [18]telegraph wires, shocking
   many [19]telegraph operators. Were a [20]Carrington-class event to
   impact the Earth today, speculation holds that [21]damage might occur
   to global power grids and electronics on a scale never yet experienced.
   The featured aurora was imaged in 2016 over [22]Thingvallavatn Lake in
   [23]Iceland, a lake that partly fills a fault that [24]divides Earth's
   large Eurasian and North American [25]tectonic plates.

                Almost Hyperspace: [26]Random APOD Generator
                     Tomorrow's picture: moon over mars
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    Authors & editors: [38]Robert Nemiroff ([39]MTU) & [40]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([41]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [42]Specific rights apply.
              [43]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [44]ASD at [45]NASA / [46]GSFC,
                         [47]NASA Science Activation
                           & [48]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2307/AuroraPingvllir_Casado_1336.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. https://www.twanight.org/casado
   5. https://www.flickr.com/photos/starryearth/albums/
   6. https://www.twanight.org/
   7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120430.html
   8. https://originalbeauty.wordpress.com/2009/06/27/spirals-in-nature/
   9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap960527.html
  10. https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/b/cat-dog-looking-up-isolated-white-background-40403239.jpg
  11. https://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/CMEs.shtml
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap031029.html
  13. https://science.nasa.gov/heliophysics/focus-areas/magnetosphere-ionosphere
  14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrington_Event
  15. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/gallery/Earths-magneticfieldlines-dipole.html
  16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday's_law_of_induction
  17. https://youtu.be/U8skz484Ctk
  18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_telegraph
  19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegraphist#/media/File:COLLECTIE_TROPENMUSEUM_Telegrafist_die_telegrammen_ontvangt_op_Sabang_TMnr_10022280.jpg
  20. https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/02may_superstorm/
  21. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-damage-could-be-caused-by-a-massive-solar-storm-25627394/
  22. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Þingvallavatn
  23. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland
  24. https://youtu.be/Bhu2umi0QII
  25. https://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/tectonic.gif
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/random_apod.html
  27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230729.html
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  31. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  36. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230730
  37. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230731.html
  38. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  39. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  40. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  41. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  42. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  43. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  44. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  45. https://www.nasa.gov/
  46. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  47. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  48. http://www.mtu.edu/