Northern Lights

While enjoying the spaceweather on a gorgeous summer evening in mid-July,
astronomer Philippe Moussette captured this colorful fish-eye lens view looking
north from the Observatoire Mont Cosmos, Quebec, Canada, planet Earth. In the
foreground, lights along the northern horizon give an orange cast to the low clouds.
But far above the clouds, at altitudes of 100 kilometers or more, are alluring green
and purple hues of the aurora borealis or northern lights, a glow powered by energetic
particles at the edge of space. In the background are familiar stars of the northern sky.
In particular, that famous celestial kitchen utensil, the Big Dipper (left), and the
W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia (right) are easy to spot. Then, just follow the pointer
stars of the Big Dipper to Polaris, perhaps the most famous northern light of all.
or short, that was built at Boulder, Colorado