Explanation: Is this the largest hummingbird ever? Although it may look like a popular fluttering nectarivore, what is pictured is actually a beautifully detailed and colorful aurora, complete with rays reminiscent of feathers. This aurora was so bright that it was visible to the unaided eye during blue hour -- just after sunset when the sky appears a darkening blue. However, the aurora only looked like a hummingbird through a sensitive camera able to pick up faint glows. As reds typically occurring higher in the Earth's atmosphere than the greens, the real 3D shape of this aurora would likely appear unfamiliar. Auroras are created when an explosion on the Sun causes high energy particles to flow into the Earth's atmosphere and excite atoms and molecules of nitrogen and oxygen. The featured image was captured about two weeks ago above Lyngseidt, Norway.

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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.

Publikacii s klyuchevymi slovami: aurora borealis - severnoe siyanie Publikacii so slovami: aurora borealis - severnoe siyanie
Sm. takzhe: Rozhdestvenskaya elka iz severnogo siyaniya Severnoe siyanie nad Ital'yanskimi Al'pami Severnoe siyanie v Zapadnoi Virginii Severnyi meteor Meteory i severnoe siyanie nad Germaniei Severnoe siyanie nad gorami Karkonoshe Zelenoe severnoe siyanie nad Shveciei Vse publikacii na tu zhe temu >>