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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.

                               2024 January 14
    A person stands on snow and looks up at a starry sky. In the sky is a
   large green aurora that resembles a dragon. Please see the explanation
                       for more detailed information.

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

   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.

                    Tomorrow's picture: reflecting stars
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Ryan Smallcomb Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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