#airglow

Nikon d810a - 50mm - ISO 3200 - f/2.0 Foreground: 20 x 30 seconds Sky: 65 x 25 seconds H-Alpha: 10 x 60 seconds iOptron SkyTracker

Green airglow in the dark skies © NASASolarSystem

That wonderful, strange green glow.

Note, the beautiful colors in the night sky is not aurora. That light is airglow, caused by the absorption of solar radiation by atoms in the atmosphere. These atoms become excited and emit light.

Wild air glow from back in summer 2023

As always, this Eclipse belongs to my friends au Airglow, From a New Sky of Stars

"Colors of the Night - Iceland" (a winter night). Photo © Louis Leroux. AstroBin image of the day 6 June '25. Part of the image includes Airglow. Photographer's description: "The second striking phenomenon, covering the entire sky, is airglow. These colorful bands stretching across the sky result from complex chemical reactions occurring in the upper atmosphere, specifically in the thermosphere, which is a layer within the ionosphere. Caused by solar radiation, powerful ultraviolet rays dissociate certain molecules in Earth's atmosphere. These excited molecules then emit a faint glow in the dark night, a phenomenon known as chemiluminescence. The red color comes from hydroxyl molecules. Sodium and oxygen atoms rise to about 100 km in altitude and produce green or even orange light. Blue airglow is much rarer and occurs even higher up. A recent study has confirmed a link between this phenomenon and gravity waves."

Just. Wow. As we went over Mexico and the U.S. this morning, I caught this sprite. Sprites are TLEs or Transient Luminous Events, that happen above the clouds and are triggered by intense electrical activity in the thunderstorms below. We have a great view above the clouds, so scientists can use these types of pictures to better understand the formation, characteristics, and relationship of TLEs to thunderstorms.