Have you ever seen a hummingbird this big? The scene in the photo looks like a nectarivore flapping its wings in the air, but in reality it's a colorful and detailed aurora of light beams. The aurora was so bright that it was visible to the naked eye even during the “blue hour” after sunset, when the sky turns deep blue. However, the hummingbird shape created by the aurora was only visible thanks to a sensitive camera that can detect low light. Since red light beams usually occur higher in the atmosphere than green ones, the three-dimensional structure of this aurora may be quite different from its appearance in the photograph. Auroras are created when high-energy particles from solar flares enter the Earth's atmosphere, where they excite nitrogen and oxygen atoms. This photo, taken near Lyngseidt, Norway, in the last days of January 2025, shows one of nature's fascinating plays of light.

February 10, 2025 Astronomy Photo of the Day (NASA APOD)

Image Source and Copyright: Mickael Coulon