冰岛上空的凤凰极光

2021年01月03日

A Phoenix Aurora over Iceland
Image Credit & Copyright: Hallgrimur P. Helgason; Rollover Annotation: Judy Schmidt

Explanation: All of the other aurora watchers had gone home. By 3:30 am in Iceland, on a quiet September night, much of that night’s auroras had died down. Suddenly, unexpectedly, a new burst of particles streamed down from space, lighting up the Earth’s atmosphere once again. This time, surprisingly, pareidoliacally, the night lit up with 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 Reykjavík. 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 2016 aurora, which lasted only a minute and was soon gone forever — would possibly be dismissed as an fanciful fable — were it not captured in the featured, digitally-composed, image mosaic.

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冰岛上空的凤凰极光
影像提供与版权: Hallgrimur P. Helgason; Rollover Annotation: Judy Schmidt

说明: 其他的极光观赏者都已回家了。在2015年9月一个宁静的夜晚，在冰岛当地清晨3:30之时，当晚大部分的极光皆已消散。不过，突然一大群新粒子从太空俯冲下来，重新点亮地球的大气。而且出乎意外的，形成了一片非常精采、形状会让人联想到一只巨大凤凰的极光。摄影者以手边架好的相机飞快的拍了二张天空影像，紧接着又拍了一张地景。在上面影像的背景可见到Helgafell山，而前景的小河则是Kaldá河，二者皆位在冰岛首都雷克雅未克北方约30公里之处。有经验的观星者会认出紧贴在山峰上左方的是猎户座，昴宿星团则位在影像的中央。如果不是有这张数位并接主题影像为证的话，关于这片只持续数分钟的2016年极光之描述，可能会被当成吹牛。

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明日的图片: lightening up