Starship Asterisk*

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.

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Wow; at first I though The Arecibo Telescope collapse was a repeat
APOD being today was Sunday! and I could have missed this beauty! Surprised kitty!

Oops! Thanks Chris; I was sure I read they were also called rings! I can't find that now; anyway here is corrected copy!

orin stepanek wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 12:46 pm AirglowRings_Wang_3887.jpg
Wow; at first I though The Arecibo Telescope collapse was a repeat
APOD being today was Sunday! :oops: and I could have missed this beauty! 8-)
surprised-cat-1-resized.jpg
Surprised kitty!

They're linear bands, not rings. Welcome to the mathematics of projections.

Love APOD everyday. I so enjoy finding surprise Kitty, Thank you!

And he's driving . . . a Buick??

Thank you for such a fantastic photographs
Just a few days ago I found this website and have been waiting for your everyday pictures!
They are all spectacular

Aizirek, from Kyrgyzstan (:

orin stepanek wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 12:46 pm Wow; at first I though The Arecibo Telescope collapse was a repeat
...

Ok, I give up: how does this APOD relate to the Arecibo Telescope collapse?

johnnydeep wrote: ↑Mon Mar 14, 2022 7:56 pm

orin stepanek wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 12:46 pm Wow; at first I though The Arecibo Telescope collapse was a repeat
...

Ok, I give up: how does this APOD relate to the Arecibo Telescope collapse?

Your on the wrong track;===! First off; when I logged on the Arecibo Telescope collapse was on the top of the p-age and I didn't see that days APOD; and dummy me presumed It was the APOD til I got my sleepy eyes open! Sorry, no relate!

I love this image!
It is impressive to see cars and roads in such a fantastic sky.

Makiko