APOD: Flying Over the Earth at Night (2013 Mar 31)

APOD Robot · Post by **APOD Robot** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 4:12 am

Flying Over the Earth at Night

Explanation: Many wonders are visible when flying over the Earth at night. A compilation of such visual spectacles was captured recently from the International Space Station (ISS) and set to rousing music. Passing below are white clouds, orange city lights, lightning flashes in thunderstorms, and dark blue seas. On the horizon is the golden haze of Earth's thin atmosphere, frequently decorated by dancing auroras as the video progresses. The green parts of auroras typically remain below the space station, but the station flies right through the red and purple auroral peaks. Solar panels of the ISS are seen around the frame edges. The ominous wave of approaching brightness at the end of each sequence is just the dawn of the sunlit half of Earth, a dawn that occurs every 90 minutes.

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MargaritaMc · Post by **MargaritaMc** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 9:24 am

Sequences:

1. North-to-south down the western coast of North and South America.
2. North-to-south over Florida, the Bahamas and other Caribbean islands.
3. South-East Asia, approaching the Philippine Sea
4. Western Europe, from France through Italy, Greece, Turkey and the Middle East.
5. Aurora Australis, over the Indian Ocean, approaching Australia
6. Aurora Australis, over the Indian Ocean.
7. Aurora Australis, unknown location in the Southern Hemisphere.

(From the YouTube link in the Apod text)

I love this video, which I have on my Favourites list at YouTube and watch often! It continues to fascinate me that the flashes we see are lightening. The video of auroras - following the link in the text - is also stunning.

Margarita

K1NS · Post by **K1NS** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 11:18 am

In the opening seqence, north to south along the western coast of the Americas, there is a large patch of green lights somewhere in Central America in perhaps Guatemala or El Salvador. I looked at this video several times and saw no other green lights anywhere else in the world.

What's up with those green lights?

LocalColor · Post by **LocalColor** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 6:06 pm

One of our favorite APOD videos!

Borc · Post by **Borc** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 8:17 pm

K1NS wrote:
What's up with those green lights?

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY THINGS I DO NOT KNOW?!
I saw this too. It makes me SO curious. Maybe something in the atmosphere in that region? I find that to be most likely. Maybe? Or maybe that city REALLY likes the color green.

MargaritaMc · Post by **MargaritaMc** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 8:58 pm

Borc wrote:
K1NS wrote:
What's up with those green lights?
WHY ARE THERE SO MANY THINGS I DO NOT KNOW?!
I saw this too. It makes me SO curious. Maybe something in the atmosphere in that region? I find that to be most likely. Maybe? Or maybe that city REALLY likes the color green.

Oh, I do empathise! Every time I find out something new this opens the doors to new area of things that I hadn't up until then known that I didn't know

I hadn't noticed the green lights before - despite watching the video many times - and now I am also curious about what they might be!

We don't have many contributors today - all the knowledgeable regulars seem to be on vacation...
Margarita

owlice · Post by **owlice** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 9:12 pm

Or already answered on the earlier thread for this (repeated) APOD.

That thread is here: http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=27640

Have fun!

MargaritaMc · Post by **MargaritaMc** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 9:43 pm

owlice wrote:Or already answered on the earlier thread for this (repeated) APOD.

That thread is here: http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=27640

Have fun!

Thank you!
On the thread you linked to, you said the green was 'airglow' - but I thought that that was more usually on the limb of the planet, like this:

http://www.universetoday.com/89688/what-is-airglow/

The green lights noticed on this video are more localised.

This is a night view of the centre of Quetzaltenango in Guatemala, showing Mercury-vapour lighting, that was mentioned in a post in the earlier use of this video as an Apod http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... 50#p171214

Boomer12k · Post by **Boomer12k** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 9:50 pm

WoW! That was awesome. Very inspiring for us Earthbounders to get our ACT together. Flying through and above the Aurora was just incredible. There are really no words to describe it. Maybe GLORIOUS comes close. I think if it were slower it would be more Romantic....

Thanks for this awesome video!

:---[===] *

neufer · Post by **neufer** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 9:51 pm

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

owlice wrote:
Or already answered on the earlier thread for this (repeated) APOD.

That thread is here: http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=27640

Have fun!

So the answer is really here

:

http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... 25#p171111
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap121207.html
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=79796

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 10:19 pm

K1NS wrote:In the opening seqence, north to south along the western coast of the Americas, there is a large patch of green lights somewhere in Central America in perhaps Guatemala or El Salvador. I looked at this video several times and saw no other green lights anywhere else in the world.

What's up with those green lights?

MargaritaMc · Post by **MargaritaMc** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 10:36 pm

Thanks for posting the still from the video, bystander - that makes much more clear what the query is about.
M

owlice · Post by **owlice** » Sun Mar 31, 2013 11:20 pm

Right; I knew your query was about the mercury-vapor lights. I didn't mean to imply that I'd posted the answer to your question! (Sorry about that!) I was just letting you know the answer appeared in the thread. (My response of "airglow" was to a different question.)

neufer · Post by **neufer** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 1:33 am

owlice wrote:
Right; I knew your query was about the mercury-vapor lights. I didn't mean to imply that I'd posted the answer to your question! (Sorry about that!) I was just letting you know the answer appeared in the thread. (My response of "airglow" was to a different question.)

Our expert at "Flying Over the Earth at Night"

owlice · Post by **owlice** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 2:27 am

neufer wrote:
Our expert at "Flying Over the Earth at Night"

The better to sneak up on you to sink my talons in!

Beyond · Post by **Beyond** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 2:47 am

OUCH! I can almost feel his pain

Doug Martin · Post by **Doug Martin** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 3:01 pm

iN A COUPLE OF SEQUENCES STARLIGHT DOTS ARE MOVING COUNTER TO THE SKY-SCAPE. WHAT'S THAT?

geckzilla · Post by **geckzilla** » Mon Apr 01, 2013 3:16 pm

Doug, if you zoom in reeeeally close and use a magnifying glass... well, to me, it looks like a capslock key.

(Artificial satellites.)

cielobuio · Post by **cielobuio** » Thu Apr 04, 2013 6:26 am

The real problem, light pollution, is hidden behind the 'beauty' of this movie. This 'spectacle' of city lights for few astronauts on ISS prevents to billions of people to see the starry night from Earth.
Fabio Falchi
www.cielobuio.org

Just Gene · Post by **Just Gene** » Sun Apr 21, 2013 1:17 am

It's a nice video, but the explanation note author was either disingenuous or deceived by the video processing that went into it. "The ominous wave of approaching brightness at the end of each sequence is just the dawn of the sunlit half of Earth". That does take place in the first and last sequence, but the other "dawns" were faked, and the first and last were enhanced. Check out the original video of 9/27/2011 (the first sequence) to see what an unadulterated dawn looks like: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110927.html

geckzilla · Post by **geckzilla** » Sun Apr 21, 2013 1:29 am

The blur and bloom is just a transition effect, Gene. I don't think any dawns were intended to be faked and I don't think the editor intended to deceive anyone (nor was he confused) with the statement. Just a little sloppy with the wording. It happens.

Starship Asterisk*

APOD: Flying Over the Earth at Night (2013 Mar 31)

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