Transcript From Here on Earth

11 pictures taken here on earth,
Of what is out there in the
Universe
Devils Tower
A mysterious formation known as Devils Tower rises into the lightened sky in north eastern
Wyoming's prairie in this image. Seen against the night sky's thin, pale clouds, star clusters
and nebulae of the Milky Way arc. Of course the scene contains the captivating Milky Way
that fills the sky and lightens up the sky that surrounds it with a slight salmon pink, electric
blue and pale lemon glow.
The gorgeous glowing sky is in sharp contrast to the dark shadowed landscape of silhouetted
trees and plain grass. Clearly the photographer was successful at highlighting the stunning
sky and has made the sky look as eye catching as possible.
Corona Rings
A corona visible only to Earth was observed in the right place at the right time. Rings like this will
sometimes appear when the Sun or Moon is seen through thin clouds.
The effect is created by the quantum mechanical diffraction of light around individual mostly-transparent
cloud. Since light of different colours have different wavelengths, each colour diffracts differently. Solar
Coronae are one of the few quantum colour effects that can be easily seen with the naked eye.
This type of solar corona is due to water in the Earth's atmosphere and is altogether different from the
solar corona that exists continually around the Sun so it stands out during a total solar eclipse.
This fascinating result of light diffraction steals our eyes away from even the most beautiful of landscapes
like in the image above.
Sun by the Moon
In Svalbard, Norway during a total eclipse of the Sun by the Moon. In the image, the eclipse was captured every
three minutes and then merged with a foreground frame taken from the same location. Visible in the foreground
are many gawking eclipse seekers, some with pretty sophisticated cameras to capture the astonishing event.
As the Moon and Sun moved together across the sky, an increasing fraction of the Sun appears covered by the
Moon. In the central frame, the Moon's complete blocking of the disk of the Sun makes the immediate
surroundings appear like night during the day. The exception is the Moon itself, which now appears surrounded
by the expansive corona of the Sun.
Of course, about 2.5 minutes later, the surface
Of the Sun began to reappear. The next total eclipse of the Sun will occur in 2016 March however will only be
visible from Southeast Asia.
Waterton Lake
Recorded on April 15th, this total lunar eclipse sequence looks south down icy Waterton Lake from the Waterton
Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada.
An exposure every 10 minutes captured the Moon's position and eclipse phase, above the rugged skyline and town
lights. The sequence actually effectively measures the roughly 80 minute duration of the total phase of the eclipse.
Around 270 BC, the Greek astronomer Aristarchus also measured the duration of lunar eclipses - though probably
without the benefit of digital clocks and cameras. Still, using geometry he found a simple and impressively accurate
way to calculate the Moon's distance, in terms of the radius of Earth from the eclipse duration.
The fact that this image was taken in the hours of darkness benefits the captivating element of the piercing white light
of the moon. The calm waters that centres this image do a magnificent job at reflecting the beautiful light.
Electric lake
Just visible to the eye, a rare electric blue glow spread along the shores of Victoria Lake on January 16,
2013.
Against reflections of a light near the horizon, this digitally stacked long exposure recorded the
bioluminescence of Noctiluca scintillans, plankton stimulated by the lapping waves.
Above, the night skies of the Gippsland Lakes region, Victoria, Australia shine with a fainter greenish
airglow.
Washed out by the Earth's rotation, the faint band of the southern summer Milky Way stretches from
the horizon and reflects beautifully on the Victorian shore.
The colourful sky and water are in sharp contrast with the dark hidden land. The silhouetted trees and
ground emphasise the luminous glows
Sun Pillars
Pictured here are not auroras but nearby light pillars, a nearby phenomenon that can appear as a distant
one. In most places on Earth, a lucky viewer can see a Sun-pillar, a column of light appearing to extend up
from the Sun caused by flat fluttering ice-crystals reflecting sunlight from the upper atmosphere.
Usually these ice crystals evaporate before reaching the ground. During freezing temperatures, however,
flat fluttering ice crystals may form near the ground in a form of light snow, sometimes known as a crystal
fog. These ice crystals may then reflect ground lights in columns not unlike a Sun-pillar. The featured
image was taken in Fort Wainwright near Fairbanks in central Alaska.
Blue Tears in Taiwan
This image is particularly captivating due to the glowing rocks along the shore of the Island of
Nangan, Taiwan.
The marine plankton's bioluminescence is stimulated by wave motion hence the captivating
colour of the waves infused with a beautiful blue glow.
The city lights of China light up the sky beneath low clouds however the stars and the faint
Milky Way still fill the night sky in a unique way that cannot be outshone.
Iceland Auroras
On this cold winter night in Iceland, quite a lot is happening in the image. First, in the foreground, lies the
largest glacier in Iceland: Vatnajokull.
On the far left, bright green auroras appear from the glacier as if it was a volcano busting into the cloudy sky.
In the foreground is Lake Jökulsárlón reflecting white light from the sky and a green glow from the aurora.
On the far right is a long and unusual lenticular cloud tinged with green light emitted from another aurora
well behind it. Just above this lenticular cloud are unusual iridescent lenticular clouds displaying a broad
spectral range of colours. Far beyond the lenticular is the setting Moon, while far beyond even the Moon is
setting stars.
Watching over Earth
This remarkably complete view of Earth at night is a cloud-free image. The images were
collected during April and October 2012 by the Suomi-NPP satellite from polar orbit about 824 kilometres
above the surface of earth. The image was captured using VIIRS.
VIIRS offers greatly improved resolution and sensitivity compared to past global nightlight detecting
instrumentation on DMSP satellites. It also has advantages compared to cameras on the International Space
Station.
Easy to recognize here, city lights identify major populated areas, tracking the effects of human activity
across the globe. That makes night time images of our planet more interesting and captivating than other
planets.
Meteor in the Milky way
Earth's April showers include the Lyrid Meteor Shower, observed for more than 2,000 years when the
planet makes its annual passage through the dust stream of long-period Comet Thatcher. A grain of that
comet's dust, moving 48 kilometres per second at an altitude of 100 kilometers or so, is swept up in this
night sky view from the early hours of April 21.
Flashing toward the south eastern horizon, the meteor's brilliant streak crosses the central region of the
rising Milky Way. Higher still is bright planet Saturn, near the right edge.
Seen from Istra, Croatia, the Lyrid meteor's greenish glow reflects in the waters of the Adriatic Sea. Its trail
points back toward the shower's radiant in the constellation Lyra, high in the northern springtime sky and
off the top of the frame. The yellowish hue of giant star Antares shines to the right of the Milky Way's bulge
The Red Planet
Mars shone very brightly in planet Earth's night sky in late January, among the stars of the constellation
Cancer the Crab.
Since then the Red Planet has been fading, but still lingers in Cancer during April and May.
In mid-April, Mars wandered remarkably close to Cancer's famous star cluster M44, the Beehive
Cluster. M44 is also known by an older name, Praesepe, Latin for cradle or manger.
Captured in this 60 second time exposure made. During the exposure, passing car lights briefly
illuminated the tree branches.