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                           Astronomy Picture of the Day   
      
       Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our   
         fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation   
                       written by a professional astronomer.   
      
                                   2022 March 13   
      
                     Colorful Airglow Bands Surround Milky Way   
                      Image Credit & Copyright: Xiaohan Wang   
      
      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.   
      
                         Tomorrow's picture: star hatchery   
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          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.   
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                         A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC   
                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
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