All of the other aurora watchers had gone home. By 3:30 am in
Iceland, on a quiet night last September, much of that night's auroras had died down. Suddenly though, a new burst of particles streamed down from space, lighting up the
Earth's atmosphere once again. This time, unexpectedly,
pareidoliacally, they created 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 Kald, both located about 30 kilometers north of Iceland's capital
Reykjavik.
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 new
aurora lasted only a minute and would be gone forever -- possibly dismissed as an
embellished aberration -- were it not captured in the
featured, digitally-composed, image mosaic.
Evrim Ağacı
