by APOD Robot » Sun Mar 13, 2022 5:05 am
Colorful Airglow Bands Surround Milky Way
Explanation: 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. Red airglow likely originates from
OH molecules about 87-kilometers high, excited by
ultraviolet light from the Sun, while orange and green
airglow is likely caused by
sodium and
oxygen atoms slightly higher up. While driving near
Keluke Lake in
Qinghai Provence in
China a few years ago, the photographer originally noticed mainly the impressive central band of the
Milky Way Galaxy. Stopping to photograph it,
surprisingly, the resulting sensitive camera image showed
airglow bands to be quite prominent and span the entire sky. The featured image has been digitally enhanced to make the colors more vibrant.
[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220313.html] [img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_220313.jpg[/img] [size=150]Colorful Airglow Bands Surround Milky Way[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] Why would the sky glow like a giant repeating rainbow? [url=https://www.atoptics.co.uk/highsky/airglow2.htm]Airglow[/url]. 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 [url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/science/atmosphere-layers2.html]Earth's atmosphere[/url]. These [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_wave]gravity waves[/url] are [url=https://www.atoptics.co.uk/highsky/hgrav.htm]oscillations in air[/url] analogous to those created when a [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9QwiBFN9gI]rock is thrown in calm water[/url]. Red airglow likely originates from [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroxyl]OH molecules[/url] about 87-kilometers high, excited by [url=https://science.nasa.gov/ems/10_ultravioletwaves]ultraviolet light[/url] from the Sun, while orange and green [url=https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1508084112]airglow[/url] is likely caused by [url=https://periodic.lanl.gov/11.shtml]sodium[/url] and [url=https://periodic.lanl.gov/8.shtml]oxygen[/url] atoms slightly higher up. While driving near [url=https://youtu.be/jZ0dant6XjM]Keluke Lake[/url] in [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qinghai]Qinghai Provence[/url] in [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China]China[/url] a few years ago, the photographer originally noticed mainly the impressive central band of the [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080713.html]Milky Way Galaxy[/url]. Stopping to photograph it, [url=https://ccanimalclinic.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/surprised-cat-1-resized.jpg]surprisingly[/url], the resulting sensitive camera image showed [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170221.html]airglow bands[/url] to be quite prominent and span the entire sky. The featured image has been digitally enhanced to make the colors more vibrant.
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