APOD: Dragon Aurora over Iceland (2024 Jan 14)

[APOD Robot]

Dragon Aurora over Iceland

Explanation: Have you ever seen a dragon in the sky? Although real flying dragons don't exist, a huge dragon-shaped aurora developed in the sky over Iceland in 2019. The aurora was caused by a hole in the Sun's corona that expelled charged particles into a solar wind that followed a changing interplanetary magnetic field to Earth's magnetosphere. As some of those particles then struck Earth's atmosphere, they excited atoms which subsequently emitted light: aurora. This iconic display was so enthralling that the photographer's mother ran out to see it and was captured in the foreground. Our active Sun continues to show an unusually high number of prominences, filaments, sunspots, and large active regions as solar maximum approaches in 2025.

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[RocketRon]

Wow !
You are very privileged to have seen that, and to be able to photo it ...
Thanks for sharing.

[Ann]

Right. This is the APOD:

Dragon Aurora over Iceland. Image Credit & Copyright: Jingyi Zhang & Wang Zheng

---

I'm going to do a Neufer and talk about something else. Although admittedly he would talk about Shakespeare or Finnegan's Wake, not about cosmic vistas that have nothing to do with the APOD in question. But I'm me, so I'll do precisely that.

Here there be dragons, eh? Okay, here there be dragons:

Here there be dragons (NGC 6188 in Ara.
Credit: George Papanicolaou

George Papanicolaou

I'll leave the aurora dragon to some else to discuss, but what created the dragons of Ara? Well, the massive molecular cloud of Ara gave birth to the incredibly massive dominant stars of cluster NGC 6193, and the incredibly energetic radiation of the most massive stars of NGC 6193 sculpted the dragons of Ara!

The massive stars of NGC 6193 (top)
have sculpted the dragons of Ara. Credit: Joseph M. Drudis.

The most massive star of NGC 6193, HD 150136, is a multiple star where all three components are spectral class O.

Wikipedia wrote:

The primary star consists of a double-lined spectroscopic binary[4] with a more distant tertiary companion. The third star is orbiting the other two with a period of 8.2 years, an eccentricity of 0.73, and an inclination of 108°. The close binary stars are separated by hardly more than their own diameters and orbit in less than 3 days, but the third is separated enough to have been resolved visually by VLTI. The measured separation in 2012 was 9 milli-arcseconds, corresponding to 11-12 AU.

All three (four, including HD 150135) of the brightest stars are massive luminous O class main sequence stars, 27 to 54 times as massive as the Sun. They are around 10 times the size of the Sun, but 6-8 times hotter and each is over 100,000 times as luminous. The primary star is the closest O3 star to Earth, 46,500 K, visually 18,000 times as bright as the sun, but because of its high temperature it is around three quarters of a million times more luminous including all wavelengths.

Wowzers! I'll say!

And now I'll ask someone else to discuss the actual APOD! The stage is yours!

Ann

[AVAO]

I'm going to do a Neufer and talk about something else.
Ann

... tribute to

---

<<Dragon-like creatures appear in virtually all cultures around the globe. In his book An Instinct for Dragons (2000), anthropologist David E. Jones suggests a hypothesis that humans, just like monkeys, have inherited instinctive reactions to snakes, large cats, and birds of prey. He cites a study which found that approximately 390 people in a thousand are afraid of snakes and notes that fear of snakes is especially prominent in children, even in areas where snakes are rare. The earliest attested dragons all resemble snakes or bear snakelike attributes. Jones therefore concludes that the reason why dragons appear in nearly all cultures is because of humans' innate fear of snakes and other animals that were major predators of humans' primate ancestors. Dragons are usually said to reside in "dank caves, deep pools, wild mountain reaches, sea bottoms, haunted forests", all places which would have been fraught with danger for early human ancestors.

In her book The First Fossil Hunters: Dinosaurs, Mammoths, and Myth in Greek and Roman Times (2000), Adrienne Mayor argues that some stories of dragons may have been inspired by ancient discoveries of fossils belonging to dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. She argues that the dragon lore of northern India may have been inspired by "observations of oversized, extraordinary bones in the fossilbeds of the Siwalik Hills below the Himalayas" and that ancient Greek artistic depictions of the Monster of Troy may have been influenced by fossils of Samotherium, an extinct species of giraffe whose fossils are common in the Mediterranean region. In China, a region where fossils of large prehistoric animals are common, these remains are frequently identified as "dragon bones" and are commonly used in Chinese traditional medicine. Mayor, however, is careful to point out that not all stories of dragons and giants are inspired by fossils and notes that Scandinavia has many stories of dragons and sea monsters, but has long "been considered barren of large fossils." In one of her later books, she states that "Many dragon images around the world were based on folk knowledge or exaggerations of living reptiles, such as Komodo dragons, Gila monsters, iguanas, alligators, or, in California, alligator lizards.">>

Draco coils around the north celestial pole, as depicted in Urania's Mirror, a set of constellation cards published in London c.1825

---

Gee...maybe this is where Dragon's come from in Lore....

<<Draco is a constellation in the far northern sky. Its name is Latin for dragon. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy. The north pole of the ecliptic is in Draco. In 3000 BC, the faint star Thuban in the constellation Draco was the North Star. Dragons in Greek mythology that may have inspired the constellation's name include Ladon, the dragon who guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides. Heracles killed Ladon during his 12 labors; he was tasked with stealing the golden apples. The constellation of Hercules is depicted near Draco. In Greco- Roman legend, Draco was a dragon killed by the goddess Minerva and tossed into the sky upon his defeat. The dragon was one of the Gigantes, who battled the Olympic gods for ten years. As Minerva threw the dragon, it became twisted on itself and froze at the cold North Celestial Pole before it could right itself. Sometimes, Draco is represented as the Titan son of Gaia, Typhon.>>

<<Facilitated by advanced sailing and navigational skills, and characterised by the longship, Viking activities at times also extended into the Mediterranean littoral, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.>>

[AVAO]

...
I'm going to do a Neufer and talk about something else. Although admittedly he would talk about Shakespeare or Finnegan's Wake, not about cosmic vistas that have nothing to do with the APOD in question. But I'm me, so I'll do precisely that.

Here there be dragons, eh? Okay, here there be dragons:

NGC 6188 The fighting dragons of Ara George Papanicolaou .png

Here there be dragons (NGC 6188 in Ara.
Credit: George Papanicolaou

The fighting dragons of Ara George Papanicolaou annotated.png

George Papanicolaou

I'll leave the aurora dragon to some else to discuss, but what created the dragons of Ara? Well, the massive molecular cloud of Ara gave birth to the incredibly massive dominant stars of cluster NGC 6193, and the incredibly energetic radiation of the most massive stars of NGC 6193 sculpted the dragons of Ara!

NGC 6188 and NGC 6193 by Joseph M Drudis.png

The massive stars of NGC 6193 (top)
have sculpted the dragons of Ara. Credit: Joseph M. Drudis.

The most massive star of NGC 6193, HD 150136, is a multiple star where all three components are spectral class O.

Wikipedia wrote:

The primary star consists of a double-lined spectroscopic binary[4] with a more distant tertiary companion. The third star is orbiting the other two with a period of 8.2 years, an eccentricity of 0.73, and an inclination of 108°. The close binary stars are separated by hardly more than their own diameters and orbit in less than 3 days, but the third is separated enough to have been resolved visually by VLTI. The measured separation in 2012 was 9 milli-arcseconds, corresponding to 11-12 AU.

All three (four, including HD 150135) of the brightest stars are massive luminous O class main sequence stars, 27 to 54 times as massive as the Sun. They are around 10 times the size of the Sun, but 6-8 times hotter and each is over 100,000 times as luminous. The primary star is the closest O3 star to Earth, 46,500 K, visually 18,000 times as bright as the sun, but because of its high temperature it is around three quarters of a million times more luminous including all wavelengths.

Wowzers! I'll say!

And now I'll ask someone else to discuss the actual APOD! The stage is yours!

Ann

ThanX Ann

I always like your great comments...
And these are not that far from the topic. The little hidden “Aurora Nebula” near NGC 6193 is quite pretty in IR

Click to view full size image 1 or image 2

Click to view full size image

jac berne (flickr)

...but I like auroras anyway...

Real-Time Auroras 21.10.2022 in Lyngen, Norway

Click to view full size image

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuxGI9rOA5s
Great Music: Jon Gegelman - Oceans of Magic

[Ann]

I'm going to do a Neufer and talk about something else.
Ann

... tribute to

---

<<Dragon-like creatures appear in virtually all cultures around the globe. In his book An Instinct for Dragons (2000), anthropologist David E. Jones suggests a hypothesis that humans, just like monkeys, have inherited instinctive reactions to snakes, large cats, and birds of prey. He cites a study which found that approximately 390 people in a thousand are afraid of snakes and notes that fear of snakes is especially prominent in children, even in areas where snakes are rare. The earliest attested dragons all resemble snakes or bear snakelike attributes. Jones therefore concludes that the reason why dragons appear in nearly all cultures is because of humans' innate fear of snakes and other animals that were major predators of humans' primate ancestors. Dragons are usually said to reside in "dank caves, deep pools, wild mountain reaches, sea bottoms, haunted forests", all places which would have been fraught with danger for early human ancestors.

In her book The First Fossil Hunters: Dinosaurs, Mammoths, and Myth in Greek and Roman Times (2000), Adrienne Mayor argues that some stories of dragons may have been inspired by ancient discoveries of fossils belonging to dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals. She argues that the dragon lore of northern India may have been inspired by "observations of oversized, extraordinary bones in the fossilbeds of the Siwalik Hills below the Himalayas" and that ancient Greek artistic depictions of the Monster of Troy may have been influenced by fossils of Samotherium, an extinct species of giraffe whose fossils are common in the Mediterranean region. In China, a region where fossils of large prehistoric animals are common, these remains are frequently identified as "dragon bones" and are commonly used in Chinese traditional medicine. Mayor, however, is careful to point out that not all stories of dragons and giants are inspired by fossils and notes that Scandinavia has many stories of dragons and sea monsters, but has long "been considered barren of large fossils." In one of her later books, she states that "Many dragon images around the world were based on folk knowledge or exaggerations of living reptiles, such as Komodo dragons, Gila monsters, iguanas, alligators, or, in California, alligator lizards.">>

Draco coils around the north celestial pole, as depicted in Urania's Mirror, a set of constellation cards published in London c.1825

---

Gee...maybe this is where Dragon's come from in Lore....

<<Draco is a constellation in the far northern sky. Its name is Latin for dragon. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy. The north pole of the ecliptic is in Draco. In 3000 BC, the faint star Thuban in the constellation Draco was the North Star. Dragons in Greek mythology that may have inspired the constellation's name include Ladon, the dragon who guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides. Heracles killed Ladon during his 12 labors; he was tasked with stealing the golden apples. The constellation of Hercules is depicted near Draco. In Greco- Roman legend, Draco was a dragon killed by the goddess Minerva and tossed into the sky upon his defeat. The dragon was one of the Gigantes, who battled the Olympic gods for ten years. As Minerva threw the dragon, it became twisted on itself and froze at the cold North Celestial Pole before it could right itself. Sometimes, Draco is represented as the Titan son of Gaia, Typhon.>>

<<Facilitated by advanced sailing and navigational skills, and characterised by the longship, Viking activities at times also extended into the Mediterranean littoral, North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia.>>

Thank you so much for that beautiful and highly appropriate and topical tribute to Neufer, AVAO! Art could have made exactly that post himself for today's APOD, if he had still been with us.

Ann

[hypermetabolic]

Walt Kelley wrote:
Oh, roar a roar for Nora, Nora Alice in the night, For she has seen Aurora Borealis burning bright. A furore for our Nora! And applaud Aurora seen! Where, throughout the Summer, has Our Borealis been?

[userloser]

Quite obviously a boar and not a "dragon", whatever this "dragon" of yours is.

https://imgur.com/a/kFqhVd8

[Rauf]

Quite obviously a boar and not a "dragon", whatever this "dragon" of yours is.

https://imgur.com/a/kFqhVd8

Can you prove it doesn't look like a dragon then?