NOIRLab image of the week
Milky Way Glows Over Rubin
Credit: NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory/NOIRLab/SLAC/AURA/H. Stockebrand
https://noirlab.edu/public/images/iotw2616a/
#NOIRLab #Astronomy #Rubin #RubinObs #RubinObservatory #Astrophysics #Astrodon #photography #astrophotography #nightphotography #Chile #MilkyWay #airglow
Atmospheric glow, often referred to as #Airglow, is a faint emission of light by a planetary atmosphere caused by chemical reactions triggered by solar radiation during the day.
Unlike the aurora, which is driven by high-energy solar particles hitting the poles, airglow occurs across the entire sky and is most visible from space as a thin, luminous bubble wrapping the Earth.
#PhotoOfTheDay: #MilkyWay and #Airglow
The Milky Way stretches below the curve of Earth's limb in the scene that also records a faint red, extended airglow.
The galaxy's central bulge appears with starfields cut by dark rifts of obscuring interstellar dust. The picture was taken by Astronaut Scott Kelly in August, 2015, the 135th day of his one-year mission in space.
#Airglow is a faint, natural emission of light in Earth's atmosphere that prevents the night sky from ever being completely dark.
It occurs when gas molecules, energized by solar radiation during the day, release that energy as a subtle, colorful glow.
#PhotoOfTheDay: #Aurora, Meet #Airglow
Two of Earth’s most colorful upper atmospheric phenomena, #Aurora and #Airglow, met just before dawn in this photo shot by an astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS).
Wavy green, red-topped wisps of aurora borealis appear to intersect the muted red-yellow band of airglow as the ISS passed just south of the Alaskan Peninsula.
https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/aurora-meet-airglow-147122/
#Airglow is a faint, steady emission of light from a planetary atmosphere, caused by atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere releasing energy they absorbed from sunlight, primarily through photochemical reactions.
This phenomenon causes the night sky to never be completely dark, and unlike the aurora, it occurs at all latitudes and at all times, though it is often too dim to be seen without long-exposure photography
#PhotoOfTheDay: Nighttime Over the Eastern Pacific
A long-exposure photo taken from low Earth orbit captured the brilliant illumination coming from #Airglow, lightning, and stars.
An astronaut aboard the International Space Station captured this nighttime photograph of clouds over the eastern Pacific Ocean.
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/154648/nighttime-over-the-eastern-pacific
Astronaut Don Pettit took this photo from space in January 2025, as the Sun began to rise over a cloudy Pacific Ocean. This long-exposure image shows off the wide band of the Milky Way, our home galaxy, above the aurora and airglow that shine closer to Earth's horizon.
Podcast:
https://www.nasa.gov/podcasts/houston-we-have-a-podcast/the-art-of-astronaut-photography/
#astrophotography
#Earth
#MilkyWay
#aurora
#NASA
#ISS
#DonPettit
#sunrise
#airglow
Colorful Airglow Bands Surround Milky Way
Why would the sky glow like a giant repeating rainbow? Airglow. Now air glows all of the time, but it is usually hard to see. A disturbance however -- like an approaching storm -- may cause noticeable rippling in the Earth's atmosphere. These gravity waves are oscillations in air analogous to those created when a rock is thrown in calm water.
Daniel Pomarède
Knowledge Zone
earthling