2023 January 11 - Spiral Aurora over Iceland
Channel: APOD Podcast
Date: 2023-01-11

In today's image, we see an aurora over Iceland. The aurora are caused when charged particles from our Sun strike Earth's magnetic field and are funneled toward the poles. These then interact with oxygen atoms in Earth's atmosphere giving off a green glow. Aurorae will become more prominent and more intense over the next few years as our Sun reaches a peak of its activity cycle. 

This YouTube channel is an authorized New Media Mirror Site for APOD. You can access the image and website directly at: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230111.html.

I also provide lecture videos to accompany the free OpenStax Astronomy textbook (https://openstax.org/details/books/astronomy/) on another channel. They are avilable here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMahwAGxKuWldeQ_qaIj8c0i7qbfyfLj4 or through this channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLXFGlTeF86MsI1HqBcuqKQ

Note: All commentary is created by me and is not necessarily approved or sanctioned by APOD or NASA.