Stunning aurora over Alaska Today’s Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features a strikingly beautiful light display in the night sky over Alaska and western Canada.
In early February, auroras were visible in the middle latitudes of Scotland, Canada, Scandinavia, and the United States. The auroras appeared exceptionally bright as the moon was in its last quarter phase when it is dim.
According to a report by space weather forecaster Tamitha Kov, the aurora in this particular photo was caused by a coronal hole that rotated into Earth’s strike zone.
The image was captured on February 7, 2021 over by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite. Stunning aurora over Alaska and Alaska was occupied by various indigenous peoples for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans. The state is considered the entry point for the settlement of North America by way of the Bering land bridge.
Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer