APOD: A Phoenix Aurora over Iceland (2016 Mar 16)

[APOD Robot]

A Phoenix Aurora over Iceland

Explanation: All of the other aurora watchers had gone home. By 3:30 am in Iceland, on a quiet night last September, much of that night's auroras had died down. Suddenly though, a new burst of particles streamed down from space, lighting up the Earth's atmosphere once again. This time, unexpectedly, pareidoliacally, they created an amazing shape reminiscent of a giant phoenix. With camera equipment at the ready, two quick sky images were taken, followed immediately by a third of the land. The mountain in the background is Helgafell, while the small foreground river is called Kaldá, both located about 30 kilometers north of Iceland's capital Reykjavik. Seasoned skywatchers will note that just above the mountain, toward the left, is the constellation of Orion, while the Pleiades star cluster is also visible just above the frame center. The new aurora lasted only a minute and would be gone forever -- possibly dismissed as an embellished aberration -- were it not captured in the featured, digitally-composed, image mosaic.

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[Boomer12k]

Interesting Happenstance....

:---[===] *

[NCHANT]

Not sure why it took 3 exposures to capture this, when it can be done in one? It's just not adding up to me.

[alex.tudorica]

Just curios what exactly digitally-composed means, maybe someone can explain a little bit in detail? Thanks

[geckzilla]

Not sure why it took 3 exposures to capture this, when it can be done in one? It's just not adding up to me.

Just curios what exactly digitally-composed means, maybe someone can explain a little bit in detail? Thanks

It was three photos stacked vertically to capture a vertical panorama, or vertorama as the photographer himself described it. He said he stitched them together in Photoshop manually and also did "lens correction" to the horizon, which I think means he straightened it out because it would otherwise appear to curve downward, as in a bowl shape.

[Coil_Smoke]

Finally, A decent image of "The Great Bird Of The Galaxy". I've been waiting for almost 50 years ...

[MarcC]

It looks a faint streak right in the "heart" of the phoenix. A meteor?

[Chris Peterson]

I'm uncertain what a phoenix looks like. But I do know a pigeon when I see one.

[Fred the Cat]

Phoenix, pigeon or something else ?

[BMAONE23]

And thus began the custom of carving animal totems in poles

[zzwerzy]

What an awesome image!

Not sure what "Cloudbait" (love that!) Peterson meant by "Pigeon". Sounds like an insult, but something tells me it's not.

Anyone?

z

[Jim Leff]

With the schnozz, it looks like Birdperson from the (superb) Rick and Morty series.

http://cdn3.denofgeek.us/sites/denofgee ... person.jpg

[Tekija]

I'm uncertain what a phoenix looks like.

Either this:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/thisis ... /11252.jpg

or this:

http://bestiary.ca/beastimage/img4641.jpg

[rstevenson]

Not sure what "Cloudbait" (love that!) Peterson meant by "Pigeon". Sounds like an insult, but something tells me it's not.

Well, it's a bird. See Columbidae, one of which is the domestic pigeon, common throughout the US and Canada, in cities and towns and probably everywhere else.

Rob

[Beyond]

Phoenix's have longer tail feathers than a pigeon, Rob. If you want to see what a mystical magical phoenix looks like, then just watch a mystical magical movie like Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets. You'll get to see the Phoenix burst into fire and become a pile of ashes, only to shortly emerge as a baby phoenix. And later in the movie, you get to see it helping Harry against a giant snake. And later than that, you get to see it flying 3-people out of the below ground chamber.

[rstevenson]

I've seen all the Harry Potter movies, and I've seen phoenixes in other movies too. But I was answering zzwerzy, who was asking about Chris' use of Pigeon. I wasn't commenting on the pareidoliaclly determined Phoenix.

Rob

[Chris Peterson]

Not sure what "Cloudbait" (love that!) Peterson meant by "Pigeon". Sounds like an insult, but something tells me it's not.

Just a bit of snarky commentary on the pareidolia that would lead someone to see a mythical bird in the sky as opposed to an extremely common and prosaic one.

[Beyond]

I've seen all the Harry Potter movies, and I've seen phoenixes in other movies too. But I was answering zzwerzy, who was asking about Chris' use of Pigeon. I wasn't commenting on the pareidoliaclly determined Phoenix.

Rob

Oh, ok. I didn't realize you had so much Phoenix experience. So.... in your experience, which Phoenix would you say looks most like a Phoenix should look?
From my limited Phoenix experience, i would say that the one in Harry Potter looks darn good.

[Beyond]

Look! Up in the sky. It's not a plane, it's not Superman, It's Aurora Bird!

[rstevenson]

... So.... in your experience, which Phoenix would you say looks most like a Phoenix should look?
From my limited Phoenix experience, i would say that the one in Harry Potter looks darn good.

Since there no real such birds to compare against, and since our ability to create very convincing simulacra increases in lock step with the power of our computers, I'd say the best Phoenix is, and always will be, the next one.

Rob

[DavidLeodis]

Thanks to Judy for the excellent annotation . I had thought that would be Uranus . Well OK I did actually recognise Orion, which is not bad for me!

[geckzilla]

Thanks to Judy for the excellent annotation . I had thought that would be Uranus . Well OK I did actually recognise Orion, which is not bad for me!

I love to include even dim objects like Uranus or Ceres because they help to precisely date the capture.

[DavidLeodis]

Thanks to Judy for the excellent annotation . I had thought that would be Uranus . Well OK I did actually recognise Orion, which is not bad for me!

I love to include even dim objects like Uranus or Ceres because they help to precisely date the capture.

Hi Judy (geckzilla) .

Talking of the date I've found in Hallgrimur's section in Fluidr (found through his section in Facebook) that the exposure is dated Thurs Sep 24 2015 at 03:28:09.

[geckzilla]

Thanks to Judy for the excellent annotation . I had thought that would be Uranus . Well OK I did actually recognise Orion, which is not bad for me!

I love to include even dim objects like Uranus or Ceres because they help to precisely date the capture.

Hi Judy (geckzilla) .

Talking of the date I've found in Hallgrimur's section in Fluidr (found through his section in Facebook) that the exposure is dated Thurs Sep 24 2015 at 03:28:09.

Yep. And there is no question that it was on that day because Uranus is in exactly the right spot.