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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 August 14
    A night sky filled with stars is colored partly purple by an aurora.
      Also visible are several streaks which are meteors in this image
   composite. In the foreground is a field and lone tree. Part of the tree
    slants at the nearly the same angle of the meteor streaks. Please see
               the explanation for more detailed information.

                       Meteors and Aurora over Germany
                  Image Credit & Copyright: Chantal Anders

   Explanation: This was an unusual night. For one thing, the night sky of
   August 11 and 12, earlier this week, occurred near the peak of the
   annual Perseid Meteor Shower. Therefore, meteors streaked across the
   dark night as small bits cast off from Comet Swift-Tuttle came crashing
   into the Earth's atmosphere. Even more unusually, for central Germany
   at least, the night sky glowed purple. The red-blue hue was due to
   aurora caused by an explosion of particles from the Sun a few days
   before. This auroral storm was so intense that it was seen as far south
   as Texas and Italy, in Earth's northern hemisphere. The featured image
   composite was built from 7 exposures taken over 26 minutes from Ense,
   Germany. The Perseids occur predictably every August, but auroras
   visible this far south are more unusual and less predictable.

               Gallery: Perseid Meteor Shower 2024 and Aurorae
                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
     __________________________________________________________________

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

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